McAdam wins first place in Mayor’s Landscape Awards program

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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:01AM

For its outstanding work at a Northern Trust Bank location on Chicago’s South Side, McAdam Landscaping, owned by brothers Rob McAdam of River Forest and Scott McAdam of Lemont has been awarded first place in the Commercial Landscape category in the 55th annual Mayor’s Landscape Awards program.

The honor is McAdam’s third award for the facility at 7801 S. State St., in the Chatham community. In both 2009 and 2010, judges selected the Forest Park-based firm for third place in the category.

McAdam and other winners received their awards at a ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Rick Repenning, McAdam’s commercial account manager, oversees the firm’s work at the site. “The landscape has matured quite a bit,” Repenning said. “We completely removed the existing landscape and created a new one in 2008. It’s come into its own.” According to the award application, “The intent of the design was to harmonize with the building’s Prairie style and incorporate a rotating succession of colorful plants so that there is always something blooming.”

Cheryl Voltz, property supervisor for Alter Asset management, the site manager who submitted the application, said that Repenning has been “very responsive, a pleasure to work with.”

“It looks like a park — Rick’s design for the property is exceptional,” she added. “At all times of the year, the property has something interesting going on, some new color or a new pop, always a pleasant surprise.”

“On behalf of Alter Asset Management and Northern Trust, we’re absolutely thrilled to come in first place,” Voltz added. “It’s a great honor for us. We’re very proud of the property and how it looks.”

Awards are conferred after a three-round process: in the first round, judges review the application and photos from each entry; in the second round, after narrowing the scope to a select number of finalists, judges visit gardens and evaluate planning, maintenance, creativity and environmental soundness; and finally, in the third round, judges vote after convening and reviewing the sites they have visited.

In addition to the Northern Trust site at 78th and State, McAdam provides landscaping services for two other Northern Trust locations in Chicago, at the corporate headquarters, 50 S. LaSalle St. and at the 2814 W. Fullerton Ave. bank site.

The Corporate Headquarters Plaza was awarded first place in the Mayor’s Landscape Awards program in 2008. You can see more background at www.mcadamlandscaping.com about McAdam’s prior Mayor’s Landscape Award.

Since starting their business in 1979, brothers Scott McAdam and Rob McAdam have built a firm that thrives as one of the region’s most respected names in landscaping.