Skyscraper losing its iconic name
CHICAGO—Chicago’s John Hancock Center is getting a name change, nearly a decade after another of Chicago’s most beloved skyscrapers—the Sears Tower—switched identities and caused a civic uproar.
Owners of the 100-story John Hancock Center said the building’s namesake, the insurance company that built the tower almost five decades ago, asked that its name and logos throughout the building’s interior be removed immediately.
The Hancock is the city’s fourth-tallest building, at 1,128 feet.
For now the building will be known by its address, 875 N. Michigan Ave., as the owner seeks a new naming-rights deal, said Stephen Hearn, president and CEO of Hearn Co.
Chicago-based Hearn is part of a group of real estate investors that has owned the office and parking portions of the building since 2013.
John Hancock removed its name from the 62-story John Hancock Tower in Boston in 2015 after its last office lease in the building expired.
The insurer, which was acquired by Toronto-based Manulife Financial in 2004, hasn’t been a tenant in Chicago’s John Hancock Center for many years.
“As they did in Boston, they just decided to have their name removed,” Hearn said. “At this point, we’ll push harder for a replacement name. This property deserves a more important identity than simply the address.”
John Hancock hasn’t paid for the right to have its name on the modernist skyscraper since the last naming-rights contract expired shortly after the current owners bought it, Hearn said.
Manulife representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. built the tower from 1965 to 1970. The building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is known for its black, X-shaped braces.
The loss of the iconic name comes as Hearn decided to continue owning the property after exploring a potential sale. Hearn has decided to hold on to the property for at least another two or three years, meaning it will likely be the owner that signs a naming-rights deal.
Hearn and its investment partners, Mount Kellett Capital Management and San Antoniobased Lynd Co., bought their portion of the tower for $140 million in 2013. Mount Kellett is now an affiliate of New Yorkbased Fortress Investment Group.
The group owns the 717-space parking garage on Floors 4 to 12 and about 908,000 square feet of offices on Floors 13 to 41.
The group invested about $69 million on building upgrades and signing new leases.
Other portions of the property—including residential condominiums, retail and restaurant space, broadcast antennas and the 360 Chicago observatory— are owned separately.