Located in a formerly desolate area of downtown St. Louis, the William A. Kerr Foundation building is a showcase for sustainable renovation strategies.  It started out in the late 1800′s as a bathhouse (it sits above a natural mineral spring), and thereafter as a paint warehouse — over time, it fell into disrepair.  The neighborhood was blighted when it was acquired by the owners, and they wanted to restore the building for the foundation’s offices and educational activities.  Subsequent to remediation and renovation, it was awarded 58 out of a possible 69 points by the USGBC and received LEED Platinum certification.  The William A. Kerr Foundation building has the following green features:

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• Top 3 sustainability trends for 2009.
• The cost of polishing a turd.
• Green building economic opportunity in the wings.
• Sustainability already high on GSA priority list. 
• Green glass buildings lead to fatal bird collisions.
• Get ready for a ‘golden era‘ of green building.
• Sustainability emerges as a business model.

Blogs worth reading: Green Building Law Update + Bright Green Blog.

Emily Kroll, CEO and founder of upholstered furniture company EKLA HOME, has furniture design and environmentalism in her blood.  The granddaughter of a furniture designer on one side, and an architectural and scrap metal recycler on the other, Kroll says she is "passionate about changing the way the furniture business works in the United States."  She plans to do this by eliminating toxins, limiting waste and using sustainable materials.  And EKLA certainly has a very impressive list of sustainable practices, perhaps one of the most impressive on the green furniture market today. 

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Last month, Heyday Partnership began construction on a slick small lot development called Rock Row.  Located in the Eagle Rock area, which is north of downtown LA, Rock Row will feature town home-esque (no party wall) properties at affordable-ish ($475k-$550k) prices.  Believe it or not — those of you outside of New York and California, Rock Row is considered one of the first, reasonably-priced, green housing projects in Los Angeles.  The development team includes an architect, developer, and builder working in collaboration, so Heyday is able to pass on affordability to future home buyers.

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This is the design for a new place to stay called h2hotel in Healdsburg, California.  Healdsburg is a small town of something like eleven thousand people.  It’s smack dab in the heart of Sonoma County, a place where wine enthusiasts and travelers go for rest and respite. Environmentalism is quite common in northern California, so its natural that h2hotel would be designed to include a plentiful array of green amenities.  And starting in 2010, transients and guests of all kinds will have the opportunity to stay in one of thirty-six rooms in the four-floor h2hotel.

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