When workers returned to the Sears Tower on Wednesday, they walked past a bulked-up security force without showing so much as a business card.
“It was quite scary,” said Pat Radloff, office manager of the law firm Gronek & Armstrong on the tower’s 98th floor. “I thought there would be tight security. I had my security badge out just in case.”
By Thursday, no one got inside the country’s tallest building without an ID.
Office complexes in Chicago and other large cities significantly bolstered security after Tuesday’s attack, requiring employees and visitors to show photo identification, banning cars without monthly passes from building garages and steering bomb-sniffing dogs through cubicles.
Although this substantial show of force likely will subside in coming weeks, building managers and tenants expect some aspects of office security never will return to the days when the World Trade Center stood proudly atop New York’s financial district.
Restricted access to buildings, more secure package handling and increased security sweeps are among the measures likely to be instituted at the 110-story Sears Tower and other office complexes.
“There are going to be changes, [but] I can’t tell you the way … we’re going to be running two, three weeks from now,” said Antonio Bismonte, executive vice president of TrizecHahn Office Properties, which manages and has a controlling interest in the Sears Tower.
Office buildings often take temporary security measures when disasters strike, only to fall back on prior procedures a few weeks later.
Allen Gerstein, an attorney with Marshall, Gerstein & Borun on the 63rd floor of the Sears Tower, recalled how quickly security concerns faded after the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center.
“Everybody thought the Sears Tower was going to be a target, but it rapidly dissipated,” Gerstein said.
Although Joe Brennan, a founding principal of security consulting and investigative firm Baker-Eubanks LLC, fears the same could happen this time, he sees one big difference this time.
“I think the population of the building will force some changes,” Brennan said. “People themselves will start reporting matters to the building managers. They’ll see security officers who are lax.”
That happened last week at the Sears Tower, after the building’s managers got an earful from tenants Wednesday about people passing security without showing identification. Bismonte said the security precautions added Thursday evolved after briefings with police, as well as tenant complaints.
Mary Kelly, director of administration at Marshall Gerstein, was among those voicing her concerns, and she was pleased with the results.
“This morning my favorite guard said, `Good morning, Mary. Can I see your ID?'” Kelly said on Thursday, smiling.
Still, no matter what security measures are implemented, a few tenants say they are rethinking whether to stay in such a high-profile building.
The partners at Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, a private equity firm on the 92nd floor, have talked about relocating.
“My view is that I won’t give into this fear,” says Scott Maskalunas, chief financial officer. “But there are other people at the firm with the opposite mentality. Everyone has a level of risk they are willing to assume.”
Fear of upsetting tenants
Building managers often are hesitant to increase security out of fear of inconveniencing tenants. Some security officials say adding more security is easier to do than getting workers to go along with extra restrictions.
Companies spend about $28 billion annually on security equipment, including cameras, burglar alarms and electronic locks, and an equal amount on guards, said Richard Chace, executive director of the Security Industry Association.
Although it’s too early to say how Tuesday’s attacks will affect security forces, Chace believes it will boost spending.
“I think the magnitude is going to leave such a mental footprint,” Chace said. “People are not going to be able to escape how easy it was for terrorists to affect us.”
Tenants at Sears Tower pay rent of between $36 and $46 per square foot, including around 80 cents–or 2 percent of their rent–to cover security costs, according to TrizecHahn. So the total cost for security in the building, which has 3.5 million square feet of office space, is roughly $2.8 million.
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The company estimates it will cost an additional 32 cents per square foot, or $1.1 million, to permanently hire the number of personnel it added last week.
Although security costs vary widely, companies adding guards must spend as much as $35 to $40 an hour because officers are working overtime due to the spike in demand, according to Chicago-based Burns International/Pinkerton Security Services, the nation’s largest provider of security guards.
Typically, a full-time security guard working regular business hours costs companies in downtown Chicago around $40,000 annually. Some companies, which require highly trained guards cleared by the U.S. Department of Defense, pay their officers more than $60,000.
More needed than manpower
Security experts, though, say companies that bring in more manpower aren’t necessarily making themselves less vulnerable to attacks.
“Usually in a situation like this, they bring in extra security guards, and that’s the end of it,” Brennan said. “What they really should be doing is an assessment of the facility.”
Brennan recommends steering all workers through identification checkpoints and verifying all guests with tenants, along with checking that security cameras are functioning properly and that posted emergency numbers are still active.
Most important, Brennan added, is having a comprehensive plan and communicating it to tenants.
“If you put together a program, people will understand it and comply,” he said.
Given the recent workplace tragedies, such efforts likely would be well received.
“It’s eerie being up here,” said Angel Feraci, office coordinator at First Analysis Corp., a venture capital firm on the 95th floor of the Sears Tower. “A few of us brought our sneakers in case we had to evacuate for whatever reason.”
At Marshall, Gerstein & Borun, some employees asked Kelly last week if the building can have a practice evacuation drill.
Bismonte said Sears Tower doubled its security force last week and is undergoing a “significant” review of its safety procedures.
“The events are going to change the infrastructure in place for good,” Bismonte said.
Aside from possibly fending off attacks, tighter security can decrease physical assaults on workers and theft, Brennan noted.
“It ends up creating a safer work environment,” he said. “If workers feel comfortable, their productivity is going to go up. That’s what the company has to recognize.”