Chicago welcomes Kemper into its green fold

By Terry Bergdall

ICA GreenRise Uptown, previously known
 to many as Kemper.       Click picture to enlarge.

The ICA GreenRise Uptown Building - which many people remember as Kemper - is now part of the Chicago Retrofit Commercial Building Initiative. Its aim is to encourage operators of buildings on the list to cut their energy use by at least 20 per cent over the next five years, in a bid to make Chicago more competitive, livable, and sustainable.  Five categories of buildings are involved: commercial offices; hotels; non-profit sector; residential and nonprofit; and cultural institutions.

When Mayor Rahm Emanual announced on March 6th that 18 more buildings would be added to the list, he included GreenRise as the first from the non-profit sector category (see the City’s press release here

ICA GreenRise Uptown signage on the back wall, viewed from the CTA Lawrence Street Station platform.

This is a highly symbolic development for ICA-USA, recognizing its desire to create a green culture within its building. Implications include pro bono from the City on practical projects like the establishment of a sophisticated monitoring system for the upcoming installation of solar panels on the roof. The City also views GreenRise as a pilot for other nonprofit organizations. This complements ICA-USA’s plans to highlight the building within its Accelerate 77 (A77) programme across the city’s neighbourhoods. Both GreenRise and A77 are points of engagement for students in ICA-USA’s Service Learning programme with universities.

The synergy of GreenRise, Accelerate 77 and university partnerships advance ICA-USA’s strategy of becoming a high-profile, reputable and nonprofit player in the city where it is  headquartered. This is crucial for building a durable institutional home so that national and international programmes of transformative change can continue far into the future, and strengthen the organization’s ability to work with its partners at ICA-International.

Terry Bergdall
Chief Executive Officer ICA USA