Unitrin name change will include new signs but not anytime soon

Unitrin name change will include new signs…

Photo by Steven Dahlman

…but not anytime soon

By Steven Dahlman

August 24, 2011 – Although the insurance company changes its name on Thursday, the large “Unitrin” signs on its Wacker Drive building – visible to thousands of residents and office workers in the Loop and along the main branch of the Chicago River – will not be changed, says a company spokesperson, “in the immediate future.”

“We are still in the planning stages,” said Diana Hickert-Hill on Tuesday. “We do not have a graphic of the proposed design that we can share yet.”

Unitrin, with headquarters at One East Wacker Drive, will change its name to Kemper Corporation. The company made the announcement on August 15 after owning Kemper’s personal lines of insurance since 2002, lines that are now the company’s largest business unit.

“The Kemper name fits who we have become as a company,” said Unitrin chairman Don Southwell in a news release. “It allows us to bring together all of our approximately 7,000 employees under one banner that reinforces our position as a straightforward company that delivers personal service and financial excellence in all of our interactions.”

Hickert-Hill says the company waited until the official announcement of the name change to begin the process of replacing the signs. She described the new signs as “a symbol in the form of a stylized ‘K’ followed by the word ‘KEMPER’ and will use the existing superstructure, retaining about the same dimensions.”

The 41-story steel and marble Unitrin Building was completed in 1962. Originally the United Insurance Building, the signs – one on the north face of the building and the other on the south face – have only been changed once, to “Unitrin” in 2000. That name was a combination of “United Insurance Company of America” and “Trinity Universal Insurance Company,” two business units of a company spun off from Teledyne in 1990.

(Left) United Insurance Building in 1972. Photo by C. William Brubaker. (Above) The Unitrin sign on the north side of the building last July, as seen from Marina City. Photo by Steven Dahlman.

When the name change takes effect on August 25, the company’s stock will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KMPR, replacing the current symbol UTR.

(Right) Fake debris piled on Wacker Drive in July 2010 for filming of Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon included what appeared to be a toppled Unitrin sign.