Green Practices

MMPI is the world's leading owner and operator of showroom buildings and trade show facilities, bringing buyers and sellers together in more than 300 market events, trade and consumer shows and conferences each year.

In its portfolio of 16 properties, MMPI boasts two LEED certified buildings and is pursuing certification at several others. The Merchandise Mart and 350 West Mart Center in Chicago, which together make up The Mart Center, were among Chicago’s first LEED certified buildings.

The Merchandise Mart, the world’s largest commercial building, obtained the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Building (LEED-EB) Silver certification in Fall of 2007. With 4.2 million square feet, The Merchandise Mart is the largest LEED certified building in the world.

Continuing its commitment to sustainable environments, MMPI celebrated LEED-EBOM certification for The Merchandise Mart’s sister building, 350 W. Mart Center, in September 2009. A very dynamic LEED certified building, 350 W. Mart Center is home to some of the nation’s leading financial, media and technology companies. The building contains not only office space, but retail shops, apparel showrooms, a newsroom, television studio, college, conference facilities and a 352 room business-class hotel.

What is LEED?
The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. The rating system was designed by leading experts in the construction industry to promote buildings that are economically profitable, environmentally friendly, and healthy, productive places to work. LEED has been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies as the guideline for sustainable building.

To earn LEED certification, a building must meet certain prerequisites and performance criterion within five key areas of green building strategies: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. Projects are awarded Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum certification depending on the number of credits achieved.

What is The Merchandise Mart Doing?
MMPI has been reducing environmental impact through products, procedures and equipment for many years. In 1977, MMPI opened the Apparel Center with a heat-by-light heating system, the largest building to do so in the country. In 1986, The Mart Center began operating the largest thermal storage facility in the world, capable of building 2,000,000 pounds of ice per night, cooling 71 buildings in the surrounding neighborhood, and saving $200,000 in electricity costs in the first year.

In 1990, The Mart Center began using Green Seal approved green cleaning products and the next year implemented a recycling program, which today includes all forms of paper products, glass, light bulbs, batteries, aluminum and construction materials. In 1996, The Mart Center became one of the first major property owners in downtown Chicago to enter into an agreement with the district cooling system now known as Thermal Chicago, thus contributing to the national effort to reduce the discharge of ozone-damaging CFC’s.

In 2006, MMPI joined Clean Air Counts, a voluntary initiative to reduce smog forming pollutants and energy consumption in the greater Chicago area. Part of the campaign strategies included utilizing only low VOC cleaning products, paints and building materials, as well as energy efficient lighting and alternative workplace transportation options. To date, The Mart Center has reduced pollution by 264,018 pounds for the largest reduction by a commercial building.

That same year, The Mart Center recycling program saved over 13,000 trees and recycled nearly 11 million pounds of waste, while water conservation efforts saved 5.5 million gallons of water.

In 2007, The Mart Center began using recycled paper for all business purposes, installed motion sensors in restrooms and lower wattage fixtures wherever possible, made an I-Go hybrid car available to tenants and employees 24 hours a day, retrofitted exit lights to require less energy, and implemented an exterior and dock lighting schedule.

Continuing goals include reducing the quantity of water needed for the building through the installation of more efficient fixtures, optimizing energy efficiency through lighting retrofits, supporting ozone protection protocols, encouraging renewable and alternative energy sources, purchasing materials with less environmental impact, and eliminating the sources of indoor air pollution.

“We don’t view this as a completed project,” noted MMPI Senior Vice President Myron Maurer. “We have developed the tools, now we use those tools in our day-to-day operations. The Mart Center is going to continue to refine and improve our green building practices. This is a way of life at MMPI.”