Chicago’s landmark Sears Tower has found a way to enhance its must-see tourist status: a pair of glass-enclosed, glass-bottomed platforms hanging off the 103rd floor offering a 360-degree view (well, minus whatever portion is attached to the building) of a large portion of the city from 1,350 feet up.
The idea for the enhancement came from the custodial staff, who complained that their biggest cleaning job up on the Skydeck was washing the forehead prints off the windows. Inspired perhaps by Ferris Bueller, visitors were leaning against the glass to look down.
I don’t get it. I hate heights. Don’t ask me how I once wound up working on the 96th floor of the Sears Tower doing publishing jobs for a financial firm.
Our Chicago Penton offices are across the street from Donald Trump’s new 80-story complex. When construction neared the 23rd floor, I traded my window office for one on an inner corridor so I wouldn’t have to watch workers eating Big Macs while dangling their feet off I-beams 400 feet in the air.
Nonetheless, hats off to the folks who manage the Sears Tower. Like the guys who decided people who liked roller coasters would love them if they ran upside-down and backwards, they’ve found a way to build new excitement into a staple attraction.
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