Over the last three weeks or so, several readers have asked if the new Roosevelt University skyscraper (421 South Wabash Street) we wrote about is going to be LEED certified.
Today I heard back from a PR person at Roosevelt, and yes the building is going for LEED certification. I don't know what level yet; she's supposed to get back to me with specifics.
There have been a lot of cases lately of private corporations taking over public spaces from the taxpayers. But in Chicago, one company is doing the opposite.
Chicago is home to a regional office of Pepsico, and it recently located in a new building at 555 West Monroe Street. One of the features of the building is a public park on the podium's roof. It's just two stories above the cacophony below, but it is an oasis in an area desperate for greenspace.
Most people don't know it exists. You enter through a dedicated elevator from an anonymous foyer on Monroe Street. Once upstairs, there are some patches of grass, a few plantings, and lots of tables and chairs for a picnic.
Most impressive, however, is the rooftop wind and solar energy farm. Here's a video showing the turbines and panels. That noise you hear in the video isn't the turbines, it's the sound of nearby construction.
The farm and the green roof are two of the contributing factors that helped this building attain its LEED status. And for as long as the roof remains a public amenity, we're happy to have Pepsico in the neighborhood.
Have you noticed what's going on on the roof of 900 North Michigan? It's getting a green roof. Well, not the roof of the actual skyscraper, but on the roof of the building that's officially called the 900 North Michigan Avenue Annex. Construction has been going on for about a month and from what we've been able to see in that time, it involved tearing up the old roof, putting in a new roof, and now finally what appears to be a lawn.
The brochures for the Residences at 900 North Michigan Avenue already tout its garden (barely visible in this photo behind Michigan Place) as the city's highest outdoor greenspace. Of course, it will lose that title once the roof on the annex is opened. It will be interesting to see if people who live in the building will be able to access the new garden high above Oak Street and Rush Street. We'll let you know what we see.
