June 12, 2011: The Trump Tower, left, and Sears Tower, right, as seen from the observation floor of the John Hancock Building. Yes, I still call it the Sears Tower. So there.
Thanks to a goosing of the rules, and calling a glorified antenna a spire, New York’s new One World Trade Center will be considered the tallest building in the United States/Western Hemisphere when it is completed. (The CN Tower is the world’s tallest “freestanding structure”.)
This is the second time Chicago’s Sears/Willis Tower has lost its title on a technicality. The Petronas Towers usurped the overall “world’s tallest” when its spires were included. However, the Sears Tower retained the title of “highest occupied floor” until the Burj Khalifa was finished in 2010.
On a related note, I think the new building constructed in New York should’ve been called 3 World Trade, leaving 1 and 2 for the towers destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. (The old complex also had buildings 3 through 7 but not of the same height.)