With homeownership at historic lows, many residents in Chicago and around the nation are turning to rental properties for living quarters.

Developer AMLI Residential broke ground last week on a luxury 50-story apartment tower in downtown Chicago that will be built for LEED Gold Designation and designed as part of Chicago’s Green Permit Process.

The high-end AMLI development will include lots of luxurious features, including a pool, fitness center, theatre room and in-unit floor-to-ceiling windows that provide natural night and beautiful city views.

The building will also include a no-smoking policy in which offenders found lighting up anywhere on the property, including in units, will have to send $250 to the American Lung Association.

Want to find out more about this pet-friendly residential tower, including its green features and expected completion date? Check out our story:

Construction Commences on Chicago Luxury Tower

and then check back to Chicagoland Real Estate Forum for updates on this exciting project.

EnV, one of the first LEED-certified apartment buildings in Chicago, is a 249-unit luxury rental property that was designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates.

The building was honored with the 2011 MFE Award for its green design.

The 29-story, mixed-use tower was completed last year with environmentally friendly features, including:

*A green roof made of sedum, which lowers energy costs.

*Energy Star appliances in all units

*Outdoor landscaping that requires no irrigation

*Onsite service to Zipcar and bike storage

There is also a multitude of amenities at this modern property, which is located across the street from Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart. Want to see more? Check out our story:

Chicago Real Estate to be EnVied

One East Delaware (OED), which is located right off the Magnificent Mile in Chicago’s premier Gold Coast neighborhood, becomes the third largest community in the country to earn the certification.

Owned by Waterton Residential, OED is a Chicago high-rise that features studio, convertible, one- and two-bedroom residences for rent.

The units are filled with energy-efficient additions, including floor-to-ceiling windows, which not only offer natural sunlight but also provide fantastic views of Chicago.

This building received the certification by meeting standards established by the USBGC.

Want to find out more about those standards and all that this multifamily green building has to offer? Want to get a glimpse of the fabulous view?

Check out our story:

Multifamily Chicago Real Estate First to Earn Green

Lakeside is a proposed community to be built along Lake Michigan on Chicago’s South Side where the U.S. Steel’s South Works manufacturing plant used to sit.

The 500-acre site will include enough single-family homes and high-rise units for 50,000 residents, retail and entertainment space, a marina and a new high school.

The Chicago Lakeside Development Master Plan is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) certified community from the U.S. Green Building Council and will include these environmentally friendly features:

*Large open spaces, compact walkable neighborhoods and access to bike paths and public transportation.

*1.7 miles of additional lakefront access, 91 acres of lakefront park and 125 acres of green space.

*On-site and off-shore wind development.

*Geothermal/lake water cooling.

*Solar panel inclusion.

*An innovative stormwater management plan.

Want to learn more about this new community? Read our story:

Untapped Chicago Real Estate About to Bloom

Then, check back to Chicagoland Real Estate Forum for updates on this exciting project.

215 West, located at 215 W. Washington St. in downtown Chicago, is the first rental residence to be built in the Loop in the last 15 years and is one of the city’s only high-rise apartment buildings to be developed for LEED certification.

The 50-story tower was constructed with energy, lighting, water and material use in mind. As a result, residents will see lower utility bills while leaving a smaller carbon footprint on the neighborhood.

The pet-friendly building has amenities as well, with a fourteenth floor that rivals country-club living.

The building was recently awarded the LEED Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and the Green Building Certification Institute.

Want to learn more about 215 West and its amenities? Check out our stories at ChicagolandRealEstateForum.com:

Loop Chicago Real Estate Designated Green

Green High Rise in the Loop Ready for Renters and Their Furry Friends

In the latter, you’ll find out upon what historic site 215 West was developed.

About the Project:
Project Location: 3310 Shoshone St in NW Denver

Owner / GC: Urban Green Development

Project Goal: A fundraising project to showcase and network sustainable building contractors and green suppliers.

Background: Being built in one of Denver’s “hot spot” building neighborhoods, NW Denver’s historic Highland area, “The Green Cube” will be the city’s first LEED Platinum single family home, the highest sustainable/built green rating possible. When complete the home is expected use just 40% of the energy of a code built home.
The home is scheduled to open in late fall off 2011 as a Green Built Show Home in conjunction with U.S. Built Green Council, and will be featured on the DIY Network throughout the process. The home will bring together area contractors, suppliers using sustainable and reusable products as well as serve as a fundraising project to support an annual scholarship fund enabling North High students to pursue careers in the Green Building Industry. When complete the Show Home will host tours, open houses, seminars and special events all raising money for North High career scholarships.

The Show Home will host 3,000-5,000 trade professionals and consumers during the month of July 2011 The project offers the opportunity to partner and network with the nearly 100 green trades, suppliers and services required to build the home from start to finish. Please contact Brett Robben at 303-433-6212 or email brettrobben@comcast.net

Being LEED certified means the Pizza Fusion restaurant was built to maximize features such as energy savings, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and resource stewardship just to name a few. The restaurant also prides itself on serving exceptional pizza and food for all of you who are very health conscious. Those who dine here can expect to find only organic, fresh ingredients on all menu items. The restaurant didn’t adopt the initiative of “saving the world one pizza at a time” for nothing. Everything they do from hybrid deliveries to teaching kids organic classes focuses on their initiative.

The addition of this new restaurant is good news for the residents of Atlanta, and specifically those who live at the Astoria at the Aramore, just stories above Pizza Fusion. Residents can have the luxury and convenience of dining on a tasty, healthy pizza whenever they wish. This is just one of the conveniences Astoria residences have though. The beautiful,  mid-rise boutique condos offer a prime location within walking distance to top-notch dining and shops. And of course, the condos themselves offer residents highly sought after features such as floor to ceiling glass windows with beautiful views, 24/7 concierge service, outdoor green space, a fitness center and much more.

Steven Ribeiro of Aldeia, LLC, the Developer of Independence Station is pleased by the changes to the rating system. He believes that LEED v3.0 challenges developers to make buildings more energy efficient then ever before and hopes that other developers will out-score Independence Station in the future.

The 57,000 square-foot Independence Station is set to open in 2010 and will host real and virtual offices, residential units, a restaurant and Internet cafe, DC-powered data storage facility, research facilities, product beta testing facilities, new product showcasing, and classroom space for professional as well as community outreach purposes. In addition, unique and highly efficient solar charged electric cars will be part of the project, as well as a large-scale rainwater harvesting system.

Eco tourists and residents will be able to enjoy and learn about sustainable practices in the building’s one- and two-bedroom condominiums, with the goal of living well on just 17% of the total lifestyle energy that the average American now consumes in alignment with the very aggressive year 2050 goals of the 2,000 Watt Society.

This collected data will be published on an open source basis for all to study to set new benchmarks for responsible energy consumption in daily living. A planned second phase of the project will include onsite food production and natural waste water treatment.

To keep track of the progress at Independence Station, Become a Fan of the World’s Greenest Building.

The ice storage technology from CALMAC was chosen to be a part of the overall HVAC system to offset energy usage during peak demand hours. The system is simple, ice made during off hours is used during peak hours so the building can run off grid. During the peak demand period the building will operate on power produced by biodiesel generators and cooled by the ice storage plant. This alternative saves costs by minimizing expensive electricity demand charges.

The green building will be so energy efficient that excess power generated by the 125 kW photovoltaic system will be sold back to the utility, thus helping the utility meet peak demand load. At night, the computer based building management system will decide when to shut down the generators and start making ice.

Independence Station’s goal is to be a net zero energy building by using Smart Grid technology, with CALMAC’s IceBank Energy Storage at the heart of the cooling system.