It’s not hard to figure out what’s on Manny Flores’s mind these days. Wherever the conversation starts—governmental transparency, the economy, garbage collection, his family life—at some point he steers it toward a sustainable business project called the Green Exchange. His enthusiasm builds until even a straightforward recitation of facts takes on the cadences of a closing argument to the jury: “You’ve got 270,000 square feet of space in an old industrial site. This is about the adaptive reuse of a building that’s been there nearly 100 years. But it’s not just bricks and mortar—you’re creating a new type of business community!”
The project started by accident in 2005, when officials at the Frederick Cooper lamp company told him they were closing their plant at 2545 W. Diversey because it couldn’t compete with manufacturers in China. “They came into my office downtown, and they were basically there to tell me about (a) the fact that they were closing their doors, and (b) to gauge my potential support for a zoning change for the purposes of converting that into a residential project,” he says. “I was upset.”
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While those conversations were still under way, developer Baum Realty bought the property and, through Flores, met with Barry Bursack, a sustainability advocate who was interested in renting space for an environmentally friendly furniture company. “The next thing you know, I get a call and they’re talking about this exciting new concept, and it’s the first of its kind in the country—why not just simply create a very large, self-sustaining green business community under one roof?” Flores says.
When the Green Exchange, as it’s now known, opens (which it’s currently slated to do this fall), it will house a dozen companies that employ about 400 people. Among the resident businesses will be an eco-friendly printer, a green-industry consulting firm, an economic development company, and a manufacturer that turns old tires into mulch, fuel, running tracks, and other products.
In recent months a wide range of municipalities—in New England, North Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, and California—have made plans for “green” business parks and districts, but what this means differs from one place to the next. Some will be built with recycled materials or incorporate energy-efficient design; others are targeting businesses that make eco-friendly products. Some are “green” in both ways. That’s what Flores imagines for the Addison Industrial Corridor, though he concedes that he hasn’t done much yet to figure out how viable it would be.
Others, like Peter Nicholson, founder of the Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance, warned that they might be aiming at a moving target. “What may be green today may not be green later,” Nicholson said. “It’s a process, and it has to be updated regularly.”
Brookins’s south-side ward has suffered double-digit unemployment for years, and since 2005 he’s been trying to win City Council approval to bring a Wal-Mart to a 50-acre open field that was once home to a steel mill. He says he hasn’t been able to interest any manufacturers in the site—”that train has left the station”—and he’s found that greener, high-tech companies are only interested in “trendier” areas. Big-box retail, he argues, is his ward’s best bet.
