The Animal House Fund is a public private partnership whose mission is to replace St. Louis City's Animal Care and Control facility with one that is more adoption friendly, thereby reducing the number of strays that are put to sleep.  As a public/private partnership, the funds to build the facility are privately raised, and the new facility will then be handed over to the City of St. Louis.  The current building was built in 1941, and intended to stand a mere two years as a place to gather and put down animals that had been abandoned during World War II.  The new building will set a new standard. 

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Named for the father of the modern environmental movement, the David Brower Center reflects its namesake's commitment to the environment.  The center is expected to receive LEED Platinum certification and hopes to bring together people committed to environmental and social action under one roof.  The 24,000 square feet of office space will house a number of nonprofits, including the Earth Island Institute, which was founded by Brower in 1982.  In addition, ground level retail space will have a public gallery, a state of the art theater, and an organic restaurant with locally sourced California cuisine.

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Currently, the only LEED Platinum (non-home) project in Kentucky is a visitor center, and this commercial building, The Green Building, could just become the next.  Located in the East Market District of Louisville Kentucky, an area increasingly being referred to as “NuLu,” or New Louisville, The Green Building is a major renovation of an old building.  Originally built 110 years ago as a dry goods store, the 14,000 sf masonry structure now houses a café, gallery, record label, book store, and more.  Its owners are Augusta and Gill Holland, transplants from New York who fell in love with the distressed East Market District.

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With the glut of commercial space available today and the promise of stimulus money, some developers are looking at green building as a way to stand out.  Brushing up on catch-phrases just isn't going to cut it; in the new construction space, they're competing with early adopters who have already embraced sustainable design, energy efficiency, and LEED and the like.  They'll be competing with commercial projects like this. 

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Alter Eco, an eco-lifestyle and makeover show hosted by Entourage's Adrian Grenier on Planet Green, features the green makeover of a 1926 Spanish-style home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.  The build was done in only fourteen weeks to keep up with the show's aggressive shooting schedule.  This is particularly impressive because an extra week was needed just to properly divert the construction waste from the initial demo.  The finished project received a Platinum rating through LEED for Homes and is now available for $3.5 million.

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