BP Tower

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The BP America Building

The BP Tower (also known as the Sohio Building, Standard Oil building, the BP America Building, BP America Tower, 200 Public Square, or the BP Building) is the third tallest skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio. The building, located on Public Square in Downtown Cleveland reaches 45 stories and 658 ft (201 m) and holds 1.2 million square feet (111,000 m²) of office space.

In November 1981, Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) strengthened its commitment to Cleveland by announcing plans for a new skyscraper to be built on Public Square. Initially, it was supposed to surpass the Terminal Tower in height, but city officials rejected this idea, insisting that the Terminal Tower should remain the city's tallest building. The BP Building was designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, and the postmodern structure is angled in order be parallel to both Euclid and Superior Avenues. Demolition began in 1982 with the implosion of two former Cleveland landmarks, the Burnham and Root Cuyahoga Building (1892) and the 16-story George B. Post Williamson Building (1900). The structure was completed in 1985 and was officially opened in 1987 as the BP America Tower when British Petroleum purchased the remaining 45% of Sohio and merged its North American holdings to form BP America, Inc., headquartered in the new building.

Claes Oldenburg's Free Stamp sculpture was originally commissioned by Alton Whitehouse and other Sohio executives to stand in front of the tower, but BP officials did not appreciate it, and donated the sculpture to the City of Cleveland. After some modifications, the city installed it in Willard Park, adjacent to Cleveland City Hall.

Prior to the construction of the Key Tower, the BP Building was the second most prominent skyscraper in the city, often photographed next to the adjacent Terminal Tower as a twin emblem of Cleveland. It contains 36 elevators, 10 escalators, 3 fountains, 1 waterfall, 1,500 plants, and several works of art.

When BP purchased Chicago-based Amoco in 1998, the company announced that it would be moving its headquarters from Cleveland to Chicago. It was purchased by the Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust in 1996 for $144 million, which in turn sold it to Harbor Group International in June 2005 for $141.25 million. Harbor Group partnered with Electra Real Estate (TASE: ELTR) to purchase the building. The building was subsequently renamed 200 Public Square. Most Clevelanders and the Harbor Group^[1] still recognize it as the BP Tower, although many old time Clevelanders still refer to it as the Sohio Building.