Lemont Gets Starring Role in New TV Show

The village of Lemont will co-star in the second season of Built to Last, a television series that will follow the building of a “green” home in the upscale Briarcliffe subdivision.

Representatives of Lakeshore Public Television, the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and the architect/planner of the home presented an overview of the project to about 15 audience members in the Lemont Police Department meeting room Thursday night.

Filming is planned for September through December, said Todd Pflughoeft, field producer and project manager for Lakeshore Public Television, which is based in Indiana.

Pflughoeft said the “docu-reality” show will be a mix of sit-down interviews with the tradesmen who are building the home and footage of construction. Scenes of Lemont will also be incorporated.

The station is trying to promote the green home concept, a movement “that has advanced well beyond the 1970s idea for recycling,” Pflughoeft said.

The village of Lemont’s green initiative also will be discussed on the show, with such examples as the use of porous pavers for sidewalks that allows water to sink in rather than run off. Permeable pavers are used at the Police Department building.

In a segment that follows the path of waste material from the site, the village’s recycling program will be examined, Pflughoeft said.

"A bonus of being in Lemont is being able to feature the village's green plan," he said.

The property was purchased three weeks ago by the carpenters union, but a builder has not been selected yet, said Bruce Obora of Obora Phillips and Associates, a planning and architectural firm.

Obora said a building permit request will be filed with the village in about two weeks.

Homes in the Briarcliffe subdivision are in the $650,000 range, he confirmed.

For the show, a 2,600-square-foot, five-bedroom house should be completed at a comparable price. The TV show will keep track of building costs, especially for renewable and recyclable materials.

“There are a lot of home shows out there but, in the end, they don’t say what was spent,” Obora said.

To qualify as a LEED-certified home (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the Briarcliffe house must be built in a way that reduces the negative impacts of buildings on occupants and the environment in five general categories: sustainable site planning; safeguarding water and water efficiency; energy efficiency and renewable energy; conservation of materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality.

Other ideas are a cistern system for collecting rain water to use in a garden and a landscape design of drought-resistant plants.

Obora said the aim is to give ideas that a homeowner can do “without making it a headache or hassle.”

Susan Shelley, executive producer of the show, said the carpenters union “did an extensive search,” found Lemont and then looked for a subdivision.

Briarcliffe was chosen for its aesthetics and its proximity to tollways and public transportation, said Anthony Janowski, director of sustainability/marketing for the union.

Briarcliffe is directly west of Interstate 355 and north of 127th Street.

Janowski, a Tinley Park resident, said the show will “promote skilled craftsmen and best practices” in building in addition to the green concept.

Lakeshore Public Television can be found on Comcast Channel 21.  The first season of Built to Last airs at 11 a.m. Saturdays.