In 1988 when Tracy Levesque moved to Philadelphia she would often drive past “vacant but architecturally beautiful” buildings.
“I wanted to renovate them all,” she explained.
A few weeks ago, Levesque and her partner Mia received building permits to begin renovation on 204-206 E. Girard Ave.—the buildings that will house their web development and design company, YIKES Inc., another storefront and four apartments. They hope to transform these 120-year-old spaces into the first LEED Platinum renovations in all of Pennsylvania. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a certification program for design, construction and operation of environmentally sound buildings.
Tracy and Mia Levesque started YIKES Inc. in 1996 when the Internet was on the rise. The company started with the mission that everyone should have a presence on the web.
“Tracy and I met before the Internet was even graphical,” said Mia, “Our first line of revenue was hooking people up on the Internet and teaching them how to use e-mail.”
At their current location on Third and Brown streets in Northern Liberties YIKES Inc. maintains the sustainable business practices needed to be part of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.
YIKES Inc. is also certified as a B Corporation, placing them among other corporations who “use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.” The six other staff members at YIKES Inc. besides the Levesques wear the hats of web designers and programmers working alongside the mission to be socially responsible. After 14 years at the Northern Liberties location both owners felt an urgency to move into a sustainable building.
“We decided it was time for YIKES to not be renting anymore and for us to purchase a building YIKES could be a tenant of,” said Tracy. “We saw these buildings and just loved them. But the thing about these buildings is their vacant, neglected, water damaged, bighted.”
In order to meet the standards of LEED Platinum, a system set by the U.S. Green Building Council, the buildings must pass through a detailed point system that follows the process from design and construction to finding the right tenants.
To achieve certification, the Levesque project will need to receive a total of 100 points, which will depend on their water and energy use, what kinds of materials and resources are used and the quality of the indoor environment.
“You have to have a certain number of points to get different levels of certification,” said Mia.
“There’s certified, silver, gold and platinum,” added Tracy. “Platinum is the highest one that we’re shooting for. It’s not a done deal but it’s looking good.”
Attention to the smallest detail will ensure platinum status for the Levesque project, which is why they have called upon the knowledge and experience of two other Certified B-Corporations. Plumbob, the architectural minds behind the company Onion Flats, were approached by the Levesques to take on the job of designing the space.
“If you’re thinking of doing any sustainable green building in Philly, they are probably the most well known architects doing that,” said Mia.
Onion Flats is in line with the mission to make 204-206 E. Girard Ave. LEED Platinum buildings and has done similar projects in the area before—nine years ago Onion Flats transformed an abandoned meat-packing plant in Northern Liberties into eight colorful, modern apartments.
Onion Flats then suggested to Mia and Tracy that they work with Greensaw Design & Build, a company started in 2006 by Philadelphia native Brendan Jones, to take on the contracting and construction of the buildings. Greensaw’s mission is to use reclaimed and salvaged material and other sustainable building techniques in the building process. They have relationships with Resource Exchange, a non-profit reuse center specializing in diverting materials from landfills and redirecting them to builders, and Revolution Recovery, a company whose goal is to recycle construction waste.
Resource Exchange reclaims building materials from movie and TV sets. Crews dismantle the sets and provide them to companies like Greensaw to reuse. Currently, materials from the set of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender are being used for the structure of the Levesque project.
According to owner Brendan Jones, Greensaw is the only company in the country that specializes in installing recycled reclaimed salvage. To Mia and Tracy Levesque this means the first step in any aspect of the project will be reuse—a philosophy Greensaw calls “slow builds.”
“The idea of slow-builds is instead of building with new green material we build with reclaimed material,” said Jones, “stuff that’s already been used that we can reuse.”
One of the aspects of the Levesque project that will use this philosophy is “Windows to History” where portions of the walls containing layers of wallpaper will be exposed, framed and preserved once the buildings are complete. During the demolition and framing process wallpaper from the 1950s was found layered behind other designs. Tracy researched this “Hopalong Cassidy Wallpaper” and found it to be priced at $500.
Preserving the history of the building is a priority for Tracy and Mia because it will keep with the integrity and feel of the Fishtown neighborhood. The buildings at 204-206 E. Girard Ave. were, as Tracy says, “the last eyesores on the block.” Sandwiched in between some local hotspots and diagonal from Johnny Brendas, the buildings are at the center of a major commercial corridor in Fishtown. Mia and Tracy spoke with their neighbors to the right—the ever-popular Murph’s Bar—and their new neighbor to the left—local tattoo artist Josh Geisler who opened his tattoo/piercing shop and art gallery, Black Vulture Gallery, this past weekend. Mia also had a conversation with the chef at Fathom Seafood House, a new raw bar restaurant coming soon to 200 E. Girard Ave.
“We’re psyched to come in and be a part of the community and also to be a storefront,” said Tracy. “Right now our office is above ground so we’re not really in any connection with the community.”
By July 2011, YIKES Inc. will move into what will hopefully be a LEED Platinum building and celebrate what they’ve accomplished as an environmentally conscious business.
“We’re not operating out of a green building,” said Tracy, “so for us to have this project and then to be able to move in, it’s really just the ultimate goal in being a sustainable business.”
Be the first to comment