[wrab]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...36,print.story

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Outspoken CEO Joe Plumeri concedes Sears Tower name change could have been handled better
By Becky Yerak
Tribune reporter
June 7, 2009

.....The Willis Tower dedication is slated for July, and Willis' 500 Chicago-area workers will move into newly renovated offices occupying most of the tower's 18th, 19th, and 20th floors by summer's end. They're currently scattered in five area offices.

Now publicly traded, Willis asked for and received $3.8 million in tax-increment financing from the city to redevelop the Sears Tower space.

"It's going to cost us about $17 million," said Plumeri. "We're bringing jobs into the city, and hopefully in the next couple of years it'll be 600, 700 jobs because we expect our business to grow rather strongly in the next three years."

Willis will consider spending money on marketing to help the Willis Tower name stick, but Plumeri knows it will take time.

"They can call it whatever they want, even 'The Big Willie,' " said Plumeri, who turns 66 next month. "All I know is that the day we announced that this building would be named Willis Tower, everybody in America knew who Willis was".....

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Continue reading at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...36,print.story

I vote for Big Willie