“When you think about the idea of home—and this community center is an extension of the home—there’s no more obvious material than wood to make it feel common and normal,” says Juan Gabriel Moreno, president of JGMA. 

The use of CLT also brought challenges, including navigating the permit review process and coordination of training with subcontractors, the team notes. A late donation tagged for a photovoltaic system forced some late adjustments.

“We had already gone through the permitting process and had all the engineering calcs,” says Derek Yelverton, development project manager at Lendlease. 
The project has helped drive the mass timber conversation in Chicago. “I get inquiries: ‘How did you guys pull [CLT] off in Chicago?’” says JGMA’s Moreno. “This little project represents a stepping stone.”