Chicago hotel earns Silver for being Green

Hotel Felix Chicago – a 225-room boutique hotel located in the heart of Chicago – is an exceptional contemporary-style reinvention of a historic 1926 apartment hotel.  Having opened its doors in April 2009 after an extensive redevelopment, the property has meet Silver LEED certification standards or Commercial Interiors to become the city’s first-ever hotel property to hit this goal.

“Participating in this comprehensive certification process supports our core philosophy and commitment to lessen our environmental impact,” said George Jordan, area general manager for Hotel Felix Chicago.  “We’re honored to have achieved LEED Silver certification status and we will continue to extend our green values to our guests through our daily operations.”

Moving beyond design conventions

Designed by Chicago-based Gettys, whose design and procurement team is largely staffed by LEED Accredited Professionals, Hotel Felix meets LEED standards for its adaptive reuse of an existing urban structure, convenient access to public transportation, and the use of green materials throughout, such as recycled content in the corridor and guestroom carpet, bamboo and cork flooring in the public areas, low volatile organic compound paints and wall coverings and Forest Stewardship Council-certified millwork.

The hotel’s design boasts impressive energy savings in heating and air conditioning costs with its in-room motion sensor system and in electricity costs with the use of florescent lighting throughout the property.

The property offers free parking for hybrid vehicles, no bleach use throughout the property and the serving of complimentary fair-trade coffee. Additionally, the hotel recently installed wind turbines on its roof to study the potential of further reducing its carbon footprint by generating its own renewable energy.

This year alone, over one million gallons of water will be saved through the property’s water reduction program.

For more, visit www.hotelfelixchicago.com.