The East Hills Center (of the Universe) is a successful brownfield redevelopment project in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The roof was planted in the fall of 2004, and the building open for business in 2005. The LEED Certified building has a Double Gold Rating and was developed by Bazzani and Associates in collaboration with the East Hills Council of Neighbors. The building won one of the state’s first Cool Cities grants and also received grant funding from the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

Bazzani Associates received the nation’s first Double Gold LEED Certification for The East Hills Center (of the Universe) building in 2006. Gold certifications were awarded for both LEED-CS and LEED-CI. The 7,200-square-foot building houses Marie Catrib’s restaurant, Cobblestone Home, and the 2,700-square-foot offices of West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC). The WMEAC office received the LEED-CI award.

The East Hills Council of Neighbors website (see below) states, “The former polluted gas station site at the corner of Lake and Diamond now is home to one of the “greenest” buildings in Michigan and maybe the Mid-West. What started as a grassroots movement to remediate a vacant and polluted lot, turned into a public/private partnership that redeveloped a missing component of our community’s streetscape. This ten year grass roots effort has culminated as the East Hills Center of the Universe.”

Nick Gillette, an architect at Bazzani Associates is quoted in Rapid Growth (see below), “The building, based on our energy model, is using 35% less energy than a standard building. We super insulated it, and put the green roof on it to help reduce cooling costs, help extend the life of the roof membrane, and help manage the storm water runoff.

“One of the neatest things,” Gillette said, “is that it’s the city’s first building designed to be a zero storm water discharge site. The roof is designed to hold one inch of water. Any runoff goes directly into a drain pipe that runs under the parking lot to the rain garden. The rain garden filters the water and releases it back into the natural water table without using the city storm sewer.”

Staff members of the East Hills Center (of the Universe) use the roof for stormwater and low impact development education, and research. The Sustainable Research Group is doing performance research on the East Hills Center (of the Universe) greenroof.