Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue

How does Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue 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. Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue's ENERGY STAR score of 78 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 63% of them and lower than 35%. Its site EUI of 53.2 kBtu/ft² is about 26% 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 4.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 28% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 605,856 sq ft, it is about 194% above the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2006, 35 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 Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 47 in 2015 to 78 in 2023 (+31 points); its best year on file was 2016, at 86. Site EUI moved from 83.7 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 53.2 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 36% decrease. Reported emissions went from 3,829 tCO₂e to 2,555 tCO₂e over the same span (down 33%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 78 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 78 means the building performs better than about 78% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 78 falls in band B — above median (70–84). Scores of 75 or higher meet the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification; certification itself is a separate, verified application that the disclosure does not record. 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. Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue's 53.2 kBtu/ft² across 605,856 sq ft works out to about 32.2 billion Btu (9,446 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 83.9 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,846,898 kWh of electricity and 225,158 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue to report its energy use?

Tower Park Residences: 1235 South Prairie Avenue 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:251255:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.