Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza First LEED Certified Hotel in Chicago
SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 - The Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza announces its LEED(R) Gold Certification (Existing Buildings, Operations & Maintenance) by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED-EBOM), making the hotel the first LEED certified hotel in the city of Chicago. LEED(R) certification is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.
The 521-room Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza is part of the 2.25 million square foot, 25-story 350 West Mart Center which has also been awarded LEED(R) Gold certification. The Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza is operated by Hostmark Hospitality Group.
The hotel, originally built in 1977, recently underwent a $20 million redesign that included extensive ecological measures including installing solar film on many of its windows to reduce solar heat gain and thus reduce air conditioning load on the building. The installation of this solar film will also create a better thermal climate in many areas of the hotel.
The Mart Plaza also adopted a Sustainable Purchasing Policy that gives preference to LEED-qualified green products for cleaning supplies, office supplies, furniture, electronic equipment, lamps, and renovation materials. These measures reduce the environmental impacts of materials acquired for use in the ongoing operations, maintenance, and future upgrades of the hotel. In fact, 60% of facility alterations & additions (renovation) and 48% of furniture purchases met third-party LEED sustainability criteria building-wide. Purchasing highlights from the Mart Plaza's recent redesign project include carpeting certified by the Carpet and Rug institute's Green Label and Green Label Plus certification systems, chairs and cabinets made with Forest Stewardship Council certified sustainable wood, recycled upholstery fabric, and energy conserving guest room TVs.
Many additional initiatives such as a Solid Waste Management Policy that requires recycling or other diversion of ongoing consumables, durable goods, facility alterations and additions, and mercury-containing lamps, have been adopted at the hotel.
"We are always striving to better serve our community, our guests and the globe with efforts as aggressive as this redesign and as small as using 'green' cleaning products. This is a priority for the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza," says Director of Sales and Marketing, France Langan.
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