[BCNnet] Jeanne Gang's green deal to build environmental research center wilts

[Randi Doeker - Chicago]

Plan A -the original plan as we know it- involved a lot of money that was
not forthcoming from wherever they hoped it would come.  Remember how much
the economy has changed in the last 7 years.

 

Plan B (and that's my term; not DOE's) is a scaled down version, presumably
also to be designed by Jeanne Gang's firm. There was no announcement in
January. It is just the answer one would get when one asked DOE about the
environmental center.

 

It is possible that Studio Gang can come up with something that can be built
in stages as money becomes available. I'm sure the new mayor will attract a
lot of private donors for public projects but there are many competing green
projects, including the Bloomingdale Trail and Northerly Island.

 

Randi

 

From: bcnnet-bounces at ece.iit.edu [mailto:bcnnet-bounces at ece.iit.edu] On
Behalf Of Carolyn A. Marsh
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 10:37 AM
To: 'Randi Doeker - Chicago'; 'COS Board'; bcnnet at ece.iit.edu
Subject: RE: [BCNnet] Jeanne Gang's green deal to build environmental
research center wilts 

 

Hi Randy,

 

Would you please clarify "DOE told us in January that they have a Plan B."
Where and to whom did the DOE announce a Plan B? Was there any discussion on
why a Plan A failed?

 

Carolyn Marsh 

 

  _____  

From: bcnnet-bounces at ece.iit.edu [mailto:bcnnet-bounces at ece.iit.edu] On
Behalf Of Randi Doeker - Chicago
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 8:42 AM
To: 'COS Board'; bcnnet at ece.iit.edu
Subject: [BCNnet] Jeanne Gang's green deal to build environmental
researchcenter wilts 

 

FYI: DOE told us in January that they have a Plan B involving Jeanne Gang
for a reduced enviro center.  That plan would not have factored in the new
mayor's fondness for "transformative" projects. I won't be surprised if new
private donors are found to save the original plan.

 

Randi Doeker

>From today's CST:


Jeanne Gang
<http://www.suntimes.com/business/4569275-417/jeanne-gangs-green-deal-to-bui
ld-environmental-research-center-wilts.html> 's green deal to build
environmental research center wilts 


Last Modified: Mar 30, 2011 02:11AM 

It was supposed to bring 100,000 visitors annually to Chicago's Southeast
Side, which normally doesn't share in the tourist trade. It was to be a
one-of-a-kind center for environmental research and education. And it was
supposed to be open by now.

Instead, the planned Ford Calumet Environmental Center designed by Jeanne
Gang, the biggest name in the new generation of Chicago architects, looks
more unlikely by the day. Gang is the acclaimed designer of the Aqua
building downtown, and her plans for the environmental center also drew wide
attention. But they may have been too impractical to get built.

 

The center, northwest of 134th and Torrence and alongside the Hegewisch
Marsh, was to have used salvaged materials the way birds do, so it was
called Best Nest. It also would have harvested solar energy and rainwater
and possessed internal wastewater treatment so it wouldn't need a sewer
connection. In 2004, its estimated cost was $7.6 million.

 

Two community leaders said the city's Department of Environment now
estimates the one-story building would cost $27 million, although it's
unclear if that includes staff and programming. They said a deputy
commissioner, Aaron Durnbaugh, broke the news to activists March 15 that the
city will either radically economize on the design or get a new one.

 

I asked the department about its intentions and got a statement saying in
part, "Since the project was first proposed, the plans have evolved and will
continue to do so as we move toward construction. The city is committed to
working toward building an environmental center that will improve the
quality of life for both the community and visitors."

 

Ford Motor Co., whose assembly plant and supplier park are just north of the
land, has committed $6 million for the building and the state has kicked in
$3 million.

 

Peggy Salazar, acting director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force,
heard the gloomy report from Durnbaugh. "As a community, we will be very
disappointed if this doesn't happen," she said. 

 

Judith Lihota, president of the Calumet Ecological Park Association, said
the city's new stance on the project was a "bombshell." She called on
Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel to support a building that she said would showcase
how polluted wastelands have been reclaimed as wetlands and prairies.

 

Gang was reported to be traveling and could not be reached. Why is it that
"green" design conserves materials and energy, but seldom cash?

 

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