The tower was built from 1999 to 2002 to accommodate Swiss investment bank UBS AG's Chicago headquarters.

[6][7] It was designed by Lohan Associates (now Goettsch Partners) and developed by John Buck Company.

Exterior landscaping was designed by the Berkeley, California-based firm, Peter Walker and Partners Landscape Architecture Inc. Enclos, a facade engineering and curtain wall design company, designed and installed the first ever cable net glass wall in the United States at the lobby area of One North Wacker in downtown Chicago.

Roy Lichtenstein's sculpture, Archaic Head, is displayed on the 38th floor near Louis Sullivan's elevator gate, claimed from the old Chicago Stock Exchange.

In March 2002, the building was recognized as "Development of the Year” at the 14th Annual Greater Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards.