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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormalCxSpFirst style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'>Randi Doeker<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormalCxSpLast style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'>From today’s CST:<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:16.0pt'><a href="http://www.suntimes.com/business/4569275-417/jeanne-gangs-green-deal-to-build-environmental-research-center-wilts.html">Jeanne Gang’s green deal to build environmental research center wilts </a><o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt'>Last Modified: Mar 30, 2011 02:11AM <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodydropcap style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpFirst style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpMiddle style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=bodytextCxSpLast style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt'>Gang was reported to be traveling and could not be reached. Why is it that “green” design conserves materials and energy, but seldom cash?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB","sans-serif";color:#663300'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>