Grand Plaza

How does Grand Plaza 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. Grand Plaza's ENERGY STAR score of 33 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 17% of them and lower than 82%. Its site EUI of 104.7 kBtu/ft² is about 45% above the average of 72.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 7.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 34% above the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 1,119,317 sq ft, it is about 443% above the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2003, 32 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 Grand Plaza's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Grand Plaza, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 18 in 2015 to 33 in 2023 (+15 points). Site EUI moved from 116.1 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 104.7 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 10% decrease. Reported emissions went from 11,923 tCO₂e to 8,711 tCO₂e over the same span (down 27%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 33 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 33 means the building performs better than about 33% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 33 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 42 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. Grand Plaza's 104.7 kBtu/ft² across 1,119,317 sq ft works out to about 117.2 billion Btu (34,346 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 151.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 8,430,439 kWh of electricity and 633,202 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Grand Plaza to report its energy use?

Grand Plaza 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:158227:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.