Skokie Village officials and First Bank & Trust CEO Robert Yohanan celebrate the grand opening of the 4007 Dempster branch.

First Bank & Trust officers and staff hosted a ribbon-cutting and grand opening reception for over 200 business leaders and bank customers on Dec. 6th at the bank’s newest branch office at 4007 Dempster Street in Skokie. The 3,600 square foot branch was designed to meet the requirements of a LEED® gold-certification as established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). Amidst an economic environment that has seen an increase in banks closed by regulators, and a decrease in new bank openings in the Chicago area, First Bank & Trust has opened eight branch locations in 16 years.

Designed by Behles+Behles architects of Evanston, the building which includes geothermal heating, a live roof and 100% LED lighting, is believed to be the first bank in the region designed and built to achieve LEED® gold-certification.

Read press coverage highlights on the new branch:

Evanston Review

Opening Day: Money isn’t all that’s green

Skokie bank office on the cutting edge of green

New bank in Skokie keeps environment a priority

TribLocal

The green branch of First Bank & Trust to open soon

First Bank & Trust celebrates grand opening of eco-friendly branch

Grand Opening photo gallery

Skokie welcomes green bank

Evanston RoundTable

In Green Building, What’s Old is What’s New

First Bank & Trust Goes Green in Skokie

Evanston Now

First Bank opens green office in Skokie

First Bank & Trust building branch in Skokie

Jewish Business News

Skokie bank breaks ground on green branch

India Post

First green facility by First Bank & Trust

India Tribune

First Bank & Trust celebrates grand opening of eco-friendly Skokie branch

Daily Northwestern

Green bank nears completion

Evanston architect breaks ground on Skokie bank; aims for LEED gold-certification

First Bank & Trust Director Jay Lytle addresses groundbreaking crowd

First Bank & Trust broke ground May 9, 2011 for the construction of a 3,600 square-foot LEED® certified branch office at 4007 Dempster in Skokie. LEED is an acronym for Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design. Designed by Evanston architectural firm Behles+Behles, the cutting-edge facility will be among the first financial institutions in the Midwest designed to achieve the rigorous requirements of a LEED® gold-certification as established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).

For media coverage on the event see the links below:

TribLocal

Sun-Times

Jewish Business News Chicago

Evanston Roundtable

Evanston Now

Daily Northwestern

Evanston150 is a community-wide initiative that engages all of us in imagining our future, resulting in 10 visionary ideas to celebrate Evanston's 150th anniversary in 2013.

Approximately 700 Evanston community members and leaders attended the March 26 Evanston150 Community Kick Off Rally at the Levy Center, and another 130 community leaders and members of the media attended the Kick Off breakfast briefing on March 22 at the Hilton Garden Inn.  Kick Start Marketing Chicago provided project direction for marketing and media relations for this unique grassroots community-wide initiative.  You can visit the evanston150.org for more info, or read highlighted media coverage below.

Read the Chicago Tribune March 25 Evanston150 Kick Off story.

Read the March 26 Chicago Sun-Times / Evanston Review Kick Off feature.

Read the Daily Northwestern Evanston150 Preview feature.

Read the March 29 Evanston Now Community Rally feature.

Read the Evanston RoundTable March 28 Community Rally feature.

Read the Evanston Patch March 27 Community  Rally feature.

Read the March 22 Evanston Now Kick Off Breakfast feature.