Chicagoland Sears Tower

Green border with wrap around text, inner circle image of a green building in the foreground with a silhouette of a city skyline against a multi-colored background and an orange and yellow large sun.

Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area. The Sears Tower, located in Chicago, was completed in 1973 and has 108 stories. At the time of its completion the Sears Tower held the title of tallest building in the world and held the title for 25 years. The Sears Tower is now the second tallest building in the United States and the 12th tallest in the world. The building is one of Chicago’s most popular tourist destinations and has more than a million visitors each year. In 1974, an observation deck called the Skydeck was opened where tourists can feel the building sway, see views of the city, and on a clear day can even see as far as the plains of Illinois and across Lake Michigan to Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. The building was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009 by the Willis Group as part of its lease on a portion of the tower's space, however, the building is still often referred to as the Sears Tower.