Cass Community to green, improve 50-unit apartment building

Green building has the reputation of being great -- if you can afford it. But Cass Community Social Services is out to disprove that notion in the redevelopment of a 50-unit apartment building on Elmhurst near its administrative headquarters, the Scott Building.

Board chair Laura Beachum says the agency was motivated to buy the building after it deteriorated in recent years. It will be developed into transitional housing for homeless men, women and families in an environmentally-sustainable manner. The agency will install low-flush toilets, energy-saving lights and solar panels; rainwater collection and water recycling will also be employed.

The building management will recycle and use organic and non-toxic cleaning products. There will be studio apartments along with one- and two-bedrooms.

All of this ties in with many of Cass' other programs. The Scott Building also has solar panels and the agency plans to become a distribution center for the same green products that will be used in the Elmhurst building. 

Cass has worked to create green jobs, including the recycling of tires into mud mats to be sold; to date, the program has recycled between 4,600-5,000 tires into 1,700 mats. Cass is also involved with recycling cell phones, plastic bags and scrap metals.

Beachum credits executive director the Rev. Faith Fowler with taking the agency in a greener direction. "It is a personal passion of hers to not only take care of people, but to take care of the earth that we live in." She estimates the Elmhurst building project will cost $3 million-$4 million.

Source: Laura Beachum, Cass Community Social Services
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
Photo by Marvin Shaouni