Sears its naming rights to the building expired in 2003 it remained the Sears Tower until early 2009. In March 2009 London-based insurer Willis Group Holdings, Ltd., was given the building's naming rights to encourage them to occupy the building. The official renaming as the "Willis Tower" took place on Thursday, July 16, 2009, during a public ceremony hosted by Willis Group Holdings. In the 1990s, the company began divesting itself of many non-retail entities, which were detrimental to the company's bottom line. Sears spun off its financial services arm which included brokerage business Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card. It
Joshua Sears Building Joshua Sears Building The Joshua Sears Building is a historic building in Kirkland, Washington located at the northwest corner of Market Street and Seventh Avenue, Kirkland's historic commercial core. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1891 by Boston philanthropist and capitalist, Joshua Sears, who was heavily invested in Peter Kirk's Great Western Iron and Steel Company and who planned to open a bank in town. As a result of the Panic of 1893, the steel mill and the bank never opened but the Sears building survives today as a reminder of what