Willis Tower to entice the firm to stay. Two years later, Sears began moving its own offices out of the Sears Tower. In 1994, Sears sold the building to Boston-based AEW Capital Management, with financing from MetLife. At the time, it was one-third vacant. By 1995, Sears had completely left the building, moving to a new office campus in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. In 1997, Toronto-based TrizecHahn Corporation (the owner of the CN Tower at the time) purchased the building for $110 million, and assumption of $4 million in liabilities, and a $734 million mortgage. In 2003, Trizec surrendered the building to lender
Elgin Tower Building 1999 to showcase its architectural merit. Stickling died later that year, but his benefactors transferred the building to the William R. Stickling Charitable Foundation, who currently maintain the building. An addition was built in 1999 to house, rent-free, the Downtown Neighborhood Association, who intend to revitalize the downtown area. The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 2002. The Elgin Tower Building is located at 100 E. Chicago St. in Elgin, between Douglas and N. Grove Avenues. This area has historically been known as Fountain Square, generally accepted as the downtown area of Elgin.