The ReBuilding Exchange: A Center for Affordable Reused Building Materials
3333 W. 47th St.
Location
3333 W. 47th St., Chicago, IL 60632 map
By Sharon Hoyer
While Elise Zelechowski was working for the Chicago Department of Environment she saw a need for affordable, reclaimed building materials in the city—materials that weren’t necessarily valuable, but still high-quality and serviceable, like hardwood doors and windows. When Zelechowski went to work for the Delta Institute, a Chicago-based organization that incubates models of sustainable economic development, she found the resources to fill the gap.
The idea was three years in the making, but come this February, the non-profit ReBuilding Exchange will open its doors in the Brighton Park neighborhood, just a few blocks from the Kedzie Orange Line stop. The organization’s facility will serve as a clearinghouse for salvaged building supplies that will, among others, divert waste from landfills, conserve energy-intensive resources, create jobs for the underemployed and provide affordable materials to an underserved community. The southwest side location was selected for the large immigrant and homeowning population in the area—people likely to take renovation into their own hands. “We knew the green community would be supportive and we wanted to look at other communities that could benefit,” says Zelechowski. “Resourceful homeowners were our target demographic.”
Training homeowners to be resourceful is part of the project mission as well with workshops on home renovation planned for the future. “We want to help people get back to basics,” Zelechowski states. “People are forgetting how to fix things. We plan to have workshops to arm people with information to be educated customers.” Other plans the Rebuilding Exchange has to reach out to the community include partnering with a local high school to provide donated lumbar for student woodshop projects that could be sold with the proceeds accruing to the school.
The Delta Institute informally partnered with The ReUse People (TRP), a California-based deconstruction non-profit, on the Rebuilding Exchange. TRP was interested in starting operations in Chicago, but didn’t have a warehouse to receive deconstructed materials. By teaming with the Delta Institute, TRP now has a location for these materials and an anchor for their education program, which trains ex-offenders in the deconstruction trade.
Funding of the Rebuilding Exchange has, thus far, come in the form of a $30,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity REM Program, and a $39,000 grant from the EPA. A study conducted by UIC is, moreover, underway, evaluating the demolition waste stream along with supply and demand of the current deconstruction market. Zelechowski anticipates the study, to be published this January, will provide figures supporting the market value of the project, which can be a useful tool when approaching potential funders.
In a time when money is tight, the Delta Institute is relying heavily on the generosity of volunteers, many of whom continue to donate their time and talents to the cause. Volunteer Coordinator Camille Gourdet captures the mood of those involved with the project, stating, “Everyone wins when you don’t just tear a building down and send it to a landfill. I think deconstruction and reuse will catch on and be sustainable in Chicago.” A kickoff event will be held at the Rebuilding Exchange February 13, just prior to the official opening date.
Tags: affordable materials, re-building, re-use, Salvaged materials for reuse
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