Green is Good for Business Memo
17 July 2007
TO: Editors
FROM: Geraldine Conrad
RE: Green Good for Business: Leading Developer's "Greenest" Residential Tower in Midwest 98.5% Sold; Launching 2 More
Was it really only a few short years ago when "green" seemed fringe? A fad for the granola set? Now it's not only good for the planet. It's good for business.
With oversupply an issue for the residential real estate market, 340 on the Park, scheduled for LEED® Silver certification, is 98.5% sold out, as developer Related Midwest launches two more high-profile residential high rises planned to meet the rigorous environmental certification.
Back in 2002, when Related Midwest envisioned its spectacular 62-story 340 on the Park as the first LEED®-certified residential tower in the Midwest -- before the United States Green Building Council had even set residential criteria – the focus was on creating a special building for a fabulous location. They also saw the choice as good business -- a way to be creative, innovative and take a leadership stand. Purchasers loved the building.
As its first owners assume occupancy at 340 E. Randolph in Chicago this summer, Related Midwest will be marketing two more LEED-certified residential towers: Canyon Ranch Living – Chicago, the 67-story mixed use luxury development and The Peshtigo, 57-story just west of Lake Point Tower. Industry colleagues see the commitment from one of the city's most prominent, experienced developers as significant, with other builders and the City benefiting from what Related Midwest has learned and put in place in the process of creating 340 on the Park. As just one example, its commitment to the certification inspired its scavenger firm to grow its market for recycled construction waste, so that 82% – nearly 2800 tons – could be diverted from landfills.
A leading developer of such high-profile buildings as the Park Tower at 800 N. Michigan, the former LR Development, a firm known for its diversity of experience, saw sustainability as another aspect of its role as a community-builder, making choices that enrich neighborhoods and cities. The firm, also one of the largest developers of affordable housing in the City of Chicago, recently won the 2007 Chicago Neighborhood Development Award for its Roosevelt Square Phase I, for most outstanding for-profit affordable housing project. Roosevelt Square was created as a mixed income community, and is part of the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation. LR Development Company assumed the name Related Midwest in the fall of 2006 to reflect its strategic alliance with the New York-based Related, one of the nation's largest privately-held developers.
For more information, or to set up an interview with Related Midwest (relatedmidwest.com) principals, please call Geraldine Conrad at 773-404-9842.
