Chicago’s 4.2 million square-foot Merchandise Mart received LEED Silver certification.

After a two-year effort, the Merchandise Mart Chicago was recently awarded LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, reports owner Merchandise Properties Inc. The Merchandise Mart is the world’s largest commercial building, encompassing 4.2 million square feet. It hosts more than 300 tradeshows, market events and conferences each year.

Some of the Mart’s green initiatives include using Green Seal-approved cleaning products, recycling nearly 11 million pounds of waste in 2006 and providing alternative workplace transportation options for its tenants and employees.

“We don’t view this as a completed project,” Merchandise Mart Senior Vice President Myron Maurer said in a statement. “We have developed the tools; now we use those tools in our day-to-day operations. The Mart is going to continue to refine and improve our green building practices.”

Aardex of Golden, Colo., recently completed Colorado’s first LEED Platinum-certified commercial building, The Signature Centre. At 186,000 square feet, Aardex considers it the largest speculative LEED Platinum project in the United States. “We are now the greenest building in Colorado,” CEO Rick Butler said in a statement. “And the staff achieved it at standard costs. We can do LEED for free.”

The five-story building features underfloor air with individual temperature and ventilation controls and lighting controlled by occupancy sensors, dimmable switches and photo sensors.

Alta Log Homes of Halcottsville, N.Y., has received the first LEED certification for log homes under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership and Environmental Design for Homes pilot program. But, according to Alta, log homes have been the standard in building green for centuries in that logs are a naturally green product. For instance, the company’s logs come from renewable and sustainable forests. In addition, materials left over from the construction process are recycled into mulch for gardening or animal bedding.

Hackettstown, N.J.-based Mackenzie Keck Inc. acquired Global Thinking, a green building consulting firm in Philadelphia. Global Thinking Architect Frank Sherman was appointed to vice president at Mackenzie. “[Green building] represents the new benchmark for quality design and construction,” he said in a statement.

Savage, Minn.-based Fabcon was named the recipient of the Green Award at the 2007 Tekne Awards, which are presented by the Minnesota High Tech Association in partnership with LifeScience Alley and Minnesota Technology Inc.

Regency Centers of Jacksonville, Fla., launched its formal green building initiatives program. In addition, the company has established a partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council to create a way for shopping center developments to receive LEED certification.