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Local retailers and restaurant make their "green" mark and Greenspaces initiative created to educate the community.
Story compiled and written by Envirolink Staff
Photos by Melissa Turner and Deborah Petticord
Americans spent an estimated $382.9 billion in retail and food services in the month of January 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. When everyday places like the local grocery store, retail shops and restaurants innovate with green solutions, an important shift takes place on the business scene-inspiring commitment to environmental-friendly choices.
 Chattanooga celebrates two green business firsts on the local retail and restaurant scene. Within the past year, Two North Shore opened as Chattanooga's first LEED-certified, environmentally friendly building and 212 Market earned the distinction of being the first Green Certified Restaurant in the state of Tennessee.
Converting to green office spaces, too, has become high on the agenda of many cities in the nation. Program like Chattanooga's recently unveiled Greenspaces initiative seeks to encourage green building techniques for new construction and retrofitting to reduce the negative impact of our commercial buildings on the environment. In the U. S. alone, buildings account for 36% of energy use and they are responsible for 30% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. The U. S. Green Building Council seeks to change the impact of the built environment in U.S. cities. Its mission is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life. They have made impressive strides in recent years. The annual U.S. market in green building products and services was more than $7 billion in 2005, $12 billion in 2007 and is projected to increase to $60 billion by 2010.
Greenspaces is funded through $2 million in grants from the RiverCity Company, Benwood, and Lyndhurst Foundations to educate and raise awareness through the work of a resource center that will alert developers, builders and owners to the newest environmentally-sound materials and methods. One of the first projects Greenspaces has undertaken is a 100-year-old building on Cherry Street in downtown Chattanooga. The building is owned by Fidelity Trust and GenTech Construction is implementing the green features. Those features include low-flow plumbing fixtures and high-efficiency heating and air conditioning units. The resource center will open in the next few months and will be housed in the Greenspaces building on Market Street. The Greenspaces initiative ends in 2011 and the goal is to have completed 20 LEED-certified buildings in Chattanooga.
-Deborah Petticord
Leaders in Green Retail
Chattanoogans can be proud that their city is the home of two of Tennessee's first "green" retailers. Downtown's 212 Market Restaurant was the first in the state to be a certified green restaurant, while Two North Shore is the first LEED certified shopping center. Both businesses made the decision to go green to be more environmentally conscious and to cater to the Chattanooga residents who are interested in a healthier, more eco-friendly lifestyle.
 Certified by the Green Restaurant Association, 212 Market uses recycled, tree-free and biodegradable cups, take-out containers, cutlery and bowls. Even the straws are environmentally safe. Chef Susan Moses creates a delightful fine dining experience from foods that are fresh, organic and locally grown when available. The restaurant is known for being among the first pioneers in Chattanooga's downtown revitalization and it is located near the Tennessee Aquarium. Restaurant co-founders, sisters Sally and Susan Moses and mother Maggie have had a passion for recycling from the start of 212 Market over 16 years ago. Becoming Green Certified was just "another step in the process" for the family-owned business. The next step will be installing solar panels on the rooftop and looking into retrofitting the restaurant building to become LEED-certified.
 After having a guilt-free meal at 212 Market, Chattanoogans can cross the river at the newly refurbished Market Street Bridge to the Two North Shore shopping complex, home to GreenLife Grocery, Rock Creek Outfitters and an array of unusual boutiques, galleries and specialty shops. Being a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building means Two North Shore is water efficient, energy efficient, economically beneficial to storeowners and environmentally friendly. GreenLife Grocery has integrated technology into its facility design that catches rainfall runoff from the rooftop and stores it in a 15,000-gallon tank to be reused in landscape irrigation. From specially designated parking spots to reward drivers of low emissions vehicles (LEV) to the innovative rooftop water collection system, Two North Shore introduces the local business community to a wide variety of greening techniques for retail. The Strauss Company, builder of Two North Shore, selected regional materials for use in the buildings and recycled all construction waste on-site. Special attention was paid to managing water drainage from the former industrial site.
After 12 years of business on Frazer Avenue, New Moon Gallery recently joined the other green-minded retailers at Two North Shore this past fall. New Moon Galley owner David Wheeler says he wanted to be near GreenLife Grocery, which he hopes will bring more customers into his business. "If it weren't for who's going in," Wheeler said in a recent article in the Chattanooga Time Free Press, "we probably would not have moved the store."
Steven Arnsdorff, president of CS & Associates, LLC and Fletcher Bright Realty representatives say they are looking for appropriate tenants to join in and continue the greening efforts of Chattanooga's North Shore.
-Stephanie Bofink and Melissa Turner
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