A couple of years ago, the warehouse at the corner of Ashland and Webster avenues was to be demolished so new retail development could take its place. But then the economy tanked and the project stopped, recalled Alderman Scott Waguespack, who represents the 32nd Ward where the property is located The building was used briefly as Waguespack’s campaign headquarters, but the alderman hoped another tenant would take over the space.

When he found out the ReBuilding Exchange, a 2-year-old reuse center operated by the nonprofit Delta Institute, would be “reusing” the building, it couldn’t have been a better fit, he said.

The ReBuilding Exchange opened for business in March in its new 30,000-square-foot Bucktown haunts, twice the size of its original home in Brighton Park. The warehouse space appears part-Home Depot, part-garage sale and part-vintage shop, with eye-arresting yellow, red and blue pipes snaking along the wood ceiling. Painted-over window panes let in some natural light, which casts an eerie hue on the materials—all of which come from sustainable deconstruction projects, renovation projects or are new materials that would’ve ended up in a landfill.

The ReBuilding Exchange has what executive director Elise Zelechowski calls a “triple bottom line goal”: to help the environment by keeping materials out of landfills (her organization estimates more than 40 percent of landfill waste is building materials); to provide job training in building deconstruction and material reuse to hard-to-employ Chicagoans (all of their trainees are ex-offenders); and to provide building materials at affordable prices.

Zelechowski says the reuse center prices its goods at 10 to 30 percent of retail cost, which attracts a diverse clientele: followers of the green movement, architects and builders looking to preserve a building’s historic integrity (especially old Chicago bungalows) and people just looking for a deal.

You can find cabinets, doors, countertops, faucet fixtures, lumber, toilets, stoves, sinks, chairs and more at very reasonable prices. On a recent visit, a dark-wood dresser set was priced at $65, a vintage white tub at $350 and light fixtures from $2 to $8. The inventory changes on a daily basis (though you can check out items for sale on the center’s Flickr stream) and a crew is on-hand to pick-up materials from contractors or individuals (suggested $25 donation to cover cost) three times a day.

The ReBuilding Exchange also works to educate contractors about sustainable deconstruction, the planning for which “really has to be done before the wrecking ball gets anywhere near the building,” Zelechowski said. Demolition crews have to be trained to disassemble a building when the goal is reusing as much of the material as possible.

In addition to educating its workers and contractors, the reuse center also offers workshops to the public. A series of do-it-yourself lessons — home brewing, beekeeping, chicken-keeping, weatherization, bike maintenance  and gardening and composting — will be offered at the center on May 7 from 1-5 p.m.

The reuse center has been Zelechowski’s dream for many years; she modeled it after one she visited in Portland, Ore., which she says “changed the design and deconstruction industry” and the “aesthetic of reuse” in the Pacific Northwest. She hopes the ReBuilding Exchange can become that icon for the Midwest.

“We’re working hard to create a model that is replicable,” Zelechowski said.

ReBuilding Exchange
2160 N. Ashland Ave. (parking lot entrance on Webster)
Hours: Tues., Wed., Fri., Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m; Thurs. noon-8 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday
rebuildingexchange.org