EverLast® Receives BRICK Award from the Jackson Chamber of Commerce!

January 28th, 2013 - The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce hosted its 104th Annual Meeting on Thursday, January 24, 2013 and presented a select few Chamber members with the Ambassador of the Year, Brick, Entrepreneurial Vision, Athena and Small Business Person of the Year awards in front of an audience of over 500. Amongst the recipients, EverLast® was honored with the prestigious Brick Award.

The Brick award honors the owner of a building who has substantially upgraded the physical façade and facilities by improving the interior and/or exterior of an existing building within the last three years, or honors the owner of a new building that has been built from the ground up within the last three years. The owner must be a Chamber member. “We are honored to award EverLast® for the work they have done by not only creating a building that is beautiful and “green”, but for investing in the Jackson Community through their time, energy and money,” said Mindy Bradish-Orta, President of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

The 72,000 sq. ft. building allowed EverLast® to begin manufacturing a variety of energy-efficient induction light fixtures; commercial fixtures being the main line. Several of the building's "green" features include: geothermal heating and cooling; solar/wind powered hybrid parking lot lighting; recycled energy-efficient window glass; bamboo walls; pervious concrete that absorbs rainwater and filters it back through the watershed; daylighting controls; and solar tracking skylights that track the sun throughout the day to capture more of the suns usable light by reflecting light that would be otherwise lost when the sun is low in the horizon.

In addition, the building was built on a Brownfield Redevelopment site which is unique and also rare because Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. As a result, Michael Nevins received a business growth loan from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in support of the construction of the building.

In regards to business growth, the building has allowed EverLast® the room to create more than 30 jobs in the past two years.

MLive covered the award, and the story can be found here.

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