Sears Tower
Overview
 
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals (like Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...

) continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart
Kmart
Kmart, sometimes styled as "K-Mart," is a chain of discount department stores. The chain acquired Sears in 2005, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation. The company was founded in 1962 and is the third largest discount store chain in the world, behind Wal-Mart and...

, Kohl's
Kohl's
Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...

, and Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more cautious. The Sears Tower was not the draw Sears had hoped it would be. The tower stood half-vacant for a decade as a surplus of office space was erected in Chicago in the 1980s.

By 1990, Keck, Mahin & Cate
Keck, Mahin & Cate
Keck, Mahin & Cate was a law firm based in Chicago, Illinois that was founded in 1886 and stopped operations in 1997.The firm worked in general practice, banking and bankruptcy law, corporate finances, mergers and acquisitions, and the like. By 1985, it employed 95 lawyers.The firm had branches in...

, a law firm, considered moving out of its space in the Sears Tower and moving into a potential new development, which would become 77 West Wacker Drive
77 West Wacker Drive
77 West Wacker Drive, also known as the United Building, is an office building in the Loop, Chicago. Finished in 1992, the building rises to a height of 668 ft with around of interior space. The building, with 51 floors, was designed by Ricardo Bofill...

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