story by Lee StabertYikes has always been a triple-bottom line business—people, profit, planet—so, when the opportunity arose to make their office space as green as their ethos, they acted. A certified B Corporation and SBN member, the web design company has been in their current rental space in Northern Liberties for eight years and decided it was time to buy. Owners Mia and Tracy Levesque focused their hunt in the Northeast neighborhoods (NoLibs, Fishtown, Kensington) and Bella Vista. Eventually they stumbled across a pair of vacant, blighted buildings on Girard Avenue (across from Johnny Brenda’s). “I just loved them right away,” says Tracy. YIKES received input from local design firm Onion Flats, and has enlisted Brendan Jones of Greensaw Design & Build to tackle the ambitious project—they are aiming to have the nation’s first LEED Platinum-certified rehab. Construction should be complete in July 2011.
Follow the renovation’s progress at yikesinc.com/blog
