Article toolbar The rough-and-tumble backdrop of factories and warehouses is more suggestive of urban grit than LEED Gold, making Chicago’s first sustainable streetscape, a two-mile-plus stretch along Cermak Road and Blue Island Avenue, an unlikely poster child for environmentally minded design. Photo courtesy of Chicago Department of Transportation Green Alleys The project team borrowed many elements, including pervious pavement, from Chicago’s successful Green Alleys program. “It may not seem glamorous, but engineering sustainability into basic elements such as streets and sewers can have a profound impact on our cities,” says Kevin Lentz, president of Chicago-based Knight E/A, the project’s engineer

SnapShot  May 23, 2011 Submitted By: Doka USA Ltd. Little Ferry, N.J. A pair of “Super Climbers,” or self-climbing form systems, scale the heights of 2550 N. Lakeview, an 800,000-sq-ft luxury condominium in Chicago's Lincoln Park. The two systems allow general contractor Walsh Construction Co., Chicago, to build the structure's two cores as quickly as its horizontal slabs, thereby speeding up construction time. The $188-million Lakeview project is due for completion in early 2012. Photographer: Doka USA Ltd.

GANDHI BORDERS Zach Borders, an associate with the Chicago office of architect/engineer HOK, will serve as chairman of the first-ever junior board for Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. The board raises awareness of educational outreach programs associated with the facility and also helps support restoration and preservation of the landmark building. Borders is an urban designer and certified planner with HOK’s planning group. George Vukelich has joined the Chicago office of engineer Clark Dietz Inc. as a business development professional for the firm’s civil/environmental group. Vukelich brings more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience to his role,

Article toolbar The Prairie View Landfill and Recycling Facility in Wilmington, Ill., burns refuse-generated methane simply to rid the site of the substance. But rather than watch potential revenue go up in smoke, Houston-based Waste Management Inc. is constructing a $9.5-million generating plant at Prairie View to burn the gas and convert it to electricity. Photo Courtesy Of Waste Management Lots of wattage The three generators will each produce 1.6 MW of electricity. The plant contains sufficient room to include a fourth generator. Will County, which will receive up to $1 million per year in fees from the project, is

Article toolbar There are top project starts and there are non-starters, making ENRMidwest’s list of 2010’s Top Starts as notable for what’s absent as for what’s present. Image Courtesy Of Perkins + Will Old Man River A bridge linking St. Louis and St. Claire County, Ill., is the Midwest’s top project start. Still among the missing is just about anything smacking of commercial construction, particularly in the office, retail and hospitality sectors. Ditto multi-family housing, a sector suffering from foreclosures and plummeting housing values. In some areas, values continue to decline. The downturn is particularly acute in metropolitan Chicago, ground

SnapShot  March 28, 2011 Submitted By: Roosevelt University Chicago Some might call it a stretch, but that hasn’t discouraged Roosevelt University from pushing up a 32-story “vertical campus” in the heart of Chicago’s Loop. Shown is a historic facade that will be integrated into the $118-million tower, which will house classrooms and residences for 600 students. Designed by Chicago-based VOA Architects, the project is in the hands of general contractor Power Construction Co., Schaumburg, Ill. Photo Courtesy Of Roosevelt University

On The Scene   March 28, 2011 Milwaukee’s ‘Moderne’ Age Rick Barrett (left), developer with Milwaukee-based Barrett Visionary Development, and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett toasted the late February groundbreaking of The Moderne, a $55.2-million, 30-story apartment building whose design seeks to reinterpret the Art Moderne movement. “The Moderne is iconic, and helps to underscore the transformation of Milwaukee to a contemporary urban metropolis where professionals of all ages want to live, work and play,” Rick Barrett remarked during the ceremony. The designer is Rinka Chung Architecture Inc., Milwaukee. J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Milwaukee, is the project’s general contractor. Sited along

The union rights controversy isn�t confined to Wisconsin or teachers. Newly seated Republican majorities in several budget-strapped states have swung legislative wrecking balls at some of the pillars of the building trades, including prevailing wages and project labor agreements. In Ohio, where newly elected Gov. John Kasich (R) has pledged to cut costly regulations, new Republican lawmakers have provided a substantial majority in the state Senate. A bill originating in the Ohio House of Representatives would prohibit state funding on any local government project built under a project labor agreement. On prevailing wages, open-shop contractors are �working with the governor

Although the past few years have been crushing for many enterprises working in and around the construction industry, some firms have managed to stand tall by reinventing and reinvigorating themselves, even as the recession continued to bear down on sector after sector.