Avenue East Condominiums

How does Avenue East Condominiums compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 1,515 multifamily housing buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Avenue East Condominiums's ENERGY STAR score of 59 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 41% of them and lower than 58%. Its site EUI of 57.8 kBtu/ft² is about 20% below the average of 72.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 5.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 258,647 sq ft, it is about 25% above the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2007, 36 years later than the group's average year built (1971). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has Avenue East Condominiums's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Avenue East Condominiums, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 68 in 2016 to 59 in 2023 (-9 points); its best year on file was 2018, at 70. Site EUI moved from 58.5 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 57.8 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 1% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,736 tCO₂e to 1,406 tCO₂e over the same span (down 19%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 59 mean?

ENERGY STAR scores run from 1 to 100 and are computed by the EPA's Portfolio Manager as a percentile against similar buildings nationwide, adjusted for climate, size and use: a score of 59 means the building performs better than about 59% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 59 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 16 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. In Chicago, 35% of scored buildings are at 75 or above.

Site energy-use intensity (EUI) is the energy a building uses on site in a year divided by its floor area, in thousand Btu per square foot — lower is more efficient. Avenue East Condominiums's 57.8 kBtu/ft² across 258,647 sq ft works out to about 14.9 billion Btu (4,381 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 108.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,068,612 kWh of electricity and 78,843 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Avenue East Condominiums to report its energy use?

Avenue East Condominiums reports under the Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance, the legal basis of the Chicago Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2023 disclosure (source record chicago:239016:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.