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Boocoo Cultural Center and Cafe
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Location
1823 Church Street, Evanston Map
Owner
Enterprise Development Foundation
Architect
studioVIM, LLC
The Boocoo Cultural Center and Cafe in Evanston's 5th Ward was built to engage the community at a local level in many different ways. The 5000 square foot facility, previously a gas station, grocer, and dollar store, now contains a music school, recording studio, 125-seat performance space, yoga and fitness classes, and a cafe specializing in organic and free-trade fare. Boocoo, in the words of its director Carolina Pfister, aims to be "a long lasting model of sustainability while catering to human health, intellect, and happiness." The building boasts several traditional green elements such as permeable pavers, and some that are more unique, like insulation made from recycled blue jeans. But as it turns out, the greenest features of this building are rooted in Boocoo's commitment to all things local.
Blackhawk/Halsted
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Location
1460 N. Halsted, Chicago Map
Developer
Structured Development
Architect
Valerio Dewalt Train
Blackhawk/Halsted is a new 150,00 sf four story speculative retail and office buiding (two floors of each) with an adjacent seven level parking garage. The project is in the already-crazy North/Halsted/Clbyourn corridor, just north of the new British School and across the street from the soon-to-be-razed (or deconstructed?) New City YMCA. The project is seeking basic LEED certification, and although the green features are fairly basic, it's nice to see another entrant in a fairly empty field - Southgate Market may be the only other green speculative (mass-market) retail project in Chicago.
The Morse Theater
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Location
1328 W. Morse, Chicago Map
Owner
1328 Morse LLC
Architect
Greene & Proppe Design
The Morse Theater is a renovation of a nearly-abandoned 1912 Nickelodeon theater building into a 299-seat music venue and a 99-seat restaurant (The Century Public House). The renovation includes all-new interior structure and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, including addition of a mezzanine bringing the total building area to 18,000 sf. The building has been through a variety of uses and hard times, so it's encouraging to see a local owner take interest in this type of rehab and make it green as well. Renovation projects are notoriously complex and expensive, and this project is no exception - it even includes a difficult expansion of the existing basement.
353 N. Clark
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Location
353 N. Clark Map
Developer
Mesirow Financial
Architect
Lohan Anderson (Design)
Epstein (Architect of Record)
353 N. Clark is a new 45-story, 1.1 million sf speculative office tower anchored by Mesirow Financial and law firm Jenner & Block. The project is LEED for Core and Shell precertified for Silver certification. As I've indicated before, I expect that most major office towers downtown will now earn LEED certification, as evidenced by the growing list of peers to this project.
Flashpoint Academy
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Location 
28 N. Clark Map
Owner
Flashpoint Academy
Architect
Valerio Dewalt Train Associates
Flashpoint Academy is a new media arts and sciences school occupying 58,000 sf on two floors (plus a small storefront street-level space) in the Burnham Center (aka 111 W. Washington). The two-year school will offer four areas of study: cinema, recording arts, gaming and animation - their new space includes classrooms, computer labs, recording facilities, a directing stage, a screening room, an information commons, a motion-capture studio, and student lounges to support these studies. The project is seeking LEED-CI Silver certification, and similar to the Spertus Institute, demonstrates that a sleek, contemporary design can still be green - you don't have to live and work in a hobbit hole to be green.
Christopher House
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Location
3255 W. Altgeld Map
Owner
Christopher House
Architect
Wheeler Kearns Architects
Christopher House is redeveloping the former Logan Square library (which was replaced by a new green library) into a 14,000 sf child daycare and family resource center. This new site for the 100-year old social service organization will include preschool, daycare, and after school classrooms, a motor skills playroom, plus offices, conference rooms, and a computer lab supporting Christopher House's adult education, computer literacy and family counseling programs. The project is seeking a LEED Certified rating, partially driven by a board made up of many members in the building industry.
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