103rd Floor Skydeck Views and The Ledge – The Willis (Sears) Tower – Chicago Illinois

Cost: $19 Notes: Go early around opening time and avoid the lines! Great views!
The Willis Tower observation deck, called the Skydeck, opened on June 22, 1974. Located on the 103rd floor of the tower, it is 1,353 feet (412 m) high and is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Chicago. Tourists can experience how the building sways on a windy day. They can see far over the plains of Illinois and across Lake Michigan to Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin on a clear day. Elevators take tourists to the top in about 60 seconds, and allow tourists to feel the pressure change as they rise up. The Skydeck competes with the John Hancock Center’s observation floor a mile and a half away, which is 323 feet (98 m) lower. Some 1.3 million tourists visit the Skydeck annually. A second Skydeck on the 99th floor is also used if the 103rd floor is closed. The tourist entrance can be found on the south side of the building along Jackson Boulevard.
In January 2009, Willis Tower’s owners began a major renovation of the Skydeck, including the installation of retractable glass balconies, which can be extended approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) from the facade of the 103rd floor, overlooking South Wacker Drive. The all-glass boxes, informally dubbed “The Ledge”, allow visitors to look through the glass floor to the street 1,353 feet (412 m) below. The boxes, which can bear 5 short tons (4.5 metric tons) of weight, opened to the public on July 2, 2009.[42][43] However on May 29, 2014 the laminated glass covering the floor of one of the glass boxes shattered while visitors were sitting on it, but caused no injuries. The broken glass was replaced within days, and tourist operations resumed as before.[44]

The Willis Tower, built as and still commonly referred to as Sears Tower, is a 108-story, 1,451-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States.[2] At completion in 1973, it surpassed the World Trade Center towers in New York to become the tallest building in the world, a title held for nearly 25 years. As of December 2013, the Willis Tower is the second-tallest building in the United States and the eighth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. More than one million people visit its observation deck each year, making it one of Chicago’s most popular tourist destinations. The structure was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as part of its lease on a portion of the tower’s space.
As of December 2013, the building’s largest tenant is United Airlines, which moved its corporate headquarters from the United Building at 77 West Wacker Drive in 2012 and today occupies around 20 floors with its headquarters and operations center.[3][4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Tower

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Facts About the Ledge

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g35805-d3598193-Reviews-Skydeck_Chicago-Chicago_Illinois.html