GREEN ROOF ALERT! 901 W. Madison in the West Loop goes the green route!

I was up on the roof of 901 W. Madison in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood and the first thing I noticed was the building’s green roof!  Figured that a lot of people don’t see a green roof up close so I made sure to take a closeup photo.

Do you know of any other good green roofs that I could get access too or that you have photos of?

A city park in the middle of the Loop? Planned and ready to go ahead!

So although I wasn’t happy to see two old buildings demolished, I’m glad there will be a patch of green and trees in the middle of the Loop.  The John Buck Company, developer of the neighboring 155 N. Wacker, is helping to develop this new downtown public plaza located at Randolph and Franklin Streets.  Now for the fun part, Chicago taxpayers are footing the $7MM bill for this public plaza through TIF funds.

Photos courtesy of Skyscraperpage contributer, ‘george.’

GREEN ROOF ALERT! New 33 story residential buidling planned near Old Main Post Office!

Investors to be ready to build if market improves

Looking ahead on high-rise

January 15, 2010

BY DAVID ROEDER AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters

An investor team that includes two Bridgeport businessmen and a specialist in industrial cleanups is trying its luck with high-rise housing. They have proposed a 33-story building at 519 S. Clinton, just west of the vacant Old Main Post Office.

It’s a poor market for planning a high-rise, so work won’t start anytime soon. But Langdon Neal, the investors’ zoning lawyer, said they wanted to start the approval process anyway.

“They wanted to get the entitlement work done, so if the market does turn, they can take advantage,” Neal said.

The investors include William Pacella and George Bonomo of Bridgeport. Pacella owns a trucking firm that won contracts under the city’s scandal-scarred Hired Truck program exposed by the Chicago Sun-Times. Bonomo owns a supplier of paper and cleaning supplies.

They’ve invested together in race horses, and in the 1990s they tried to renovate the old Evans furrier building at 36 S. State, but couldn’t finance the deal.

Another investor is Shadow Mirkhaef, an executive at GSG Consultants Inc., which handles industrial cleanups.

Their proposal calls for 276 units of either rental or for-sale housing, depending on the market’s inclination, Neal said. Also included would be 327 parking spaces, a large allotment that would enable the site to provide parking for a Holiday Inn next door….

Photo courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times

Check out the full Chicago Sun Times article by clicking HERE!

I’ve always wanted SOMETHING to be built on this side of the river and Congress.  The land is soo close to the Loop and it’s being incredibly underutilized.  This building looks great and should fit in nicely…not to mention the amazing green roof that’s planned for the building!  I love green roofs!

GREEN ROOF UPDATE! 353 N. Clark in Chicago’s River North.

A big thanks to SkyscraperPage user ‘Harry C’ because without his photos, I wouldn’t have access to these green roof photos from atop 353 N. Clark’s parking entrance and retail space.  You can definitely see the variation in plants and the overall design of the green roof a lot better in the second picture…money well spent in my opinion.  I can’t wait to see what the roof will look like a year or two from now.

Still finishing the green roof...

Finished and growing!

GREEN ROOF ALERT! Lush gardens on top of Chicago’s City Hall!

This green roof on top of Chicago’s City Hall has got to be the baby of Mayor Daley’s green roofing binge…and I’m glad he made this his first major one because it turned out great.  Started in 2000, the City Hall rooftop garden was started as  part of the Chicago’s Urban Heat Island Initiative which tests the benefits of green roofs and how they affect air temperature and air quality.  The green roof has around 20,000 plants and 100 species which were selected because of their ability to survive on top of an 11 story building in the middle of Chicago.

According to the City of Chicago website:  “The City Hall rooftop garden improves air quality, helps conserve energy, reduces stormwater runoff and helps lessen the urban heat island effect.  The plants reflect heat, provide shade and help cool the surrounding air through evapotranspiration, which occurs when plants secrete or “transpire” water through pores in their leaves.  The water draws heat as it evaporates, cooling the air in the process.  Plants also filter the air, which improves air quality by using excess carbon dioxide to produce oxygen.”

The green roof also replaced the traditional black tar roof with green plants, plants that absorb much less heat from the sun than the tar roof would.  This keeps the building cooler in summer which means less energy for air conditioning.  The roof can also retain 75% of a 1 inch rainfall before stormwater runs off into the sewers.

Unfortunately, the City Hall green roof isn’t open for public tours but if you’re lucky enough to work in neighboring buildings, that’s probably your best bet of seeing the roof.  If you want to view the garden from the Department Of Environment’s offices, contact Larry Merritt at (312) 744-5716 for an appointment.

What do you all think of it?

Photo courtesy of World Business Chicago

GREEN ROOF ALERT! Way up in the air at 111 S. Wacker Drive.

 If you work in the Loop or if you’re just walking along Wacker Drive, you probably wont even look twice at 111 S. Wacker Drive.  I will because I’m pretty much in love with the lobby.   But over 50 stories above the ground, and visible from the Willis Tower Skydeck, is one of the highest green roofs in the world.  111 S. Wacker, developed by The John Buck Company and was designed by Goettsch Partners, was completed in 2005 and is the first high rise office building in the world to achieve Gold-level certification.

  

GREEN ROOF ALERT in Chicago’s Theatre District! Joffrey Tower!

When walking on State Street, in downtown Chicago, I have seen the trees that peek above the roof line of Joffrey Tower, located at 151 N State Street.  At the base of the condo building, formally known as MoMo, is retail space and the home of the Joffrey Ballet.  Above the base is a major opening that flows straight through Joffrey Tower and as you can see from the picture below, an awesome green roof.

GREEN ROOF ALERT at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport!

 Check out the full profile of the O’Hare green roof by clicking HERE!  Thank you to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities for the profile.

This green roof is located on top of Building 607, the New South Vault Building at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.  The measures in at 17,800 square feet and has a six-inch deep layer of growing medium with native grasses planted.  One of the many benefits of installing a green roof is that during the day, workers have already noticed a cooling effect when working in the building compared to conventional roofed buildings.

Now that it sold at the Rick Levin auction, what now for Chicago’s Old Post Office?

I found this article from the Chicago Sun Times and although I don’t agree with most of Hedy’s ideas, it is still an interesting article to read about the potential uses for the old Chicago Post Office that was recently sold at auction for $40MM.  Click HERE to read the complete article.

I have a few novice ideas for the post office that I will write about in a seperate post.

 

GREEN ROOF ALERT! The most famous Chicago green roof: Millennium Park!

A lot of people have no idea that Millennium Park is one of the world’s largest green roof.  Under the park is a major parking garage, a train station with dozens of retail spaces, and rail lines that service the South Side of Chicago.  Millennium Park started construction in October 1998 and officially opened July 16th, 2004 with 24.5 acres of new parkland for downtown Chicago.

Now, of course something this big in Chicago can’t come without some controversy.  Millennium Park was finished four years behind schedule and cost approximately three times as much as the inthe initial budget of $150MM really came out to be $475MM with a brunt of the money paid from taxpayers and donors.  Without Millennium Park, I really wonder what the area would look like today.  I know the park had at least some sort of influence on the many residential buildings that have been built.  I’m sure the different cultural centers surrounding it have seen at least some sort of increase in traffic.  Block 37 and other new State Street retail spaces could also have been influenced by the proximity to Millennium Park.  Thoughts?