Philadelphia – Philadelphia C-PACE

June 8, 2023

PACE Equity closes first Philly deal with Bromley Loom House

PACE Equity, the Philadelphia Energy Authority and the owners of 2315-2325 N. Front Street closed the 14th C-PACE deal in Philadelphia with $997,706 to finance energy efficiency and water conservation measures for a newly constructed multifamily/mixed use property in East Kensington. Fact sheets for this project and all PA C-PACE projects can be found here.

The property is known as the Bromley Loom House. It is a 63-unit multifamily property with two commercial units. Greg Ambrosi, CFO of Ampere Capital Group, the developer/owner of the property stated, “while we used C-PACE funding as a stop gap for supply chain overages and a bridge loan our first time using the product, I definitely see the value of utilizing the product moving forward from the beginning of construction. It is priced better than almost all current construction lending, and can really shore up the capital stack; decreasing equity needs while lowering overall cost of capital, and also improving ratios that banks value. Add that to the fact that Lisa’s team from the city and Aysha’s team from PACE-Equity were very responsive, this was a very smooth process.”

“We applaud the team at Ampere Capital Group for choosing long-term, non-recourse PACE financing for the Bromley Loom House,” stated Stephen Arrivello, PACE Equity’s Philadelphia Managing Director. PACE Equity helps complete the capital stack with low-cost capital by funding improvements that contribute to lower energy costs and lower carbon.”

PEA is pleased to welcome PACE Equity to the growing group of C-PACE capital providers having closed projects in Philadelphia (Nuveen Green Capital, Counterpointe SRE, CCG PACE, Enhanced Capital, and Twain Financial Partners).

$158 million of private capital utilizing the C-PACE program has been invested in energy efficiency, water conservation and solar energy during the first three years of the program’s inception in Philadelphia. C-PACE may also be used for resiliency and indoor air quality improvements.

This project is notable because of the speed it was approved and closed. It took just seven weeks from submission of the pre-application to recording the C-PACE assessment.

Interested in learning more about C-PACE? Contact us at cpace@philaenergy.org and/or attend our C-PACE Open Meetings which take place on the last Thursday of each month from 2:00-3:00PM. See all C-PACE Philadelphia events here.

February 12, 2023

First Multifamily C-PACE Deal Closes in PA

Riverwards Group secures $17.9MM in energy efficiency financing for 220 apartments through C-PACE program expansion

The Philadelphia Energy Authority and Nuveen Green Capital announced the closing of $17.9MM for a 220-unit multifamily property in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia on East Somerset and Tulip Streets. This project is the first in Pennsylvania to take advantage of expanded eligibility for multifamily properties and it is the 12th project in Philadelphia, bringing total C-PACE investments to $117MM.

Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing allows for investments in energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy, and now IAQ and resiliency, that are paid back over time through special property assessments.

The Riverwards Group development, known as Somerset Station, is set to open in 2024. “We are grateful that this development is the first multifamily project in Pennsylvania to benefit from the newly expanded C-PACE program,” said Mo Rushdy, Managing Partner, Riverwards Group. It is a transformative project that brings an unprecedented large-scale development to North of Lehigh Avenue, in an area that has been neglected development-wise. This development would not have happened without the use of C-PACE and Community Revitalization Act funding. Nuveen Green Capital and Citizens Bank worked together to make this project happen.”

Shelah Wallace, Director of Origins at Nuveen Green Capital stated “we are thrilled to be able to help Riverwards reduce their equity requirement by utilizing our C-PACE product. We are also very proud to have partnered with Citizens Bank as they recognized the benefits of having C-PACE in the capital stack.”

Senate Bill 635 expanded eligibility for C-PACE financing to include multifamily commercial buildings, indoor air quality and building resiliency improvements. The bill was signed by Governor Wolf in July 2022 and took effect in September 2022. Act 43 of 2022 expands on Act 30 of 2018, which first enabled C-PACE financing in Pennsylvania for commercial buildings. Sponsored by Senator Yudichak, the Act extends eligibility to multifamily commercial buildings of 5 or more units, as well as indoor air quality and building resiliency improvements. Representative Heffley sponsored the House companion bill, HB 1760.

“We are grateful to Senator Yudichak and Representative Heffley for their sponsorship of expansion,” said Emily Schapira, President & CEO of the Philadelphia Energy Authority, Philadelphia’s C-PACE Administrator. “This project is evidence of the importance of the expansion.”

December 7, 2022

Largest PA C-PACE deal closed; Philly total @$100MM

Nuveen Green Capital Provides $30 Million in Financing Through the Philadelphia
C-PACE Program for Freezpak Logistics

Philadelphia-area based BG Capital uses C-PACE to complete capital stack for new construction of industrial cold storage facility

Nuveen Green Capital and the Philadelphia Energy Authority announced the closing of $30.08 million in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing for a cold storage facility at 2201 E. Allegheny Avenue in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia. This is the largest C-PACE deal to-date in Pennsylvania.

This brings the total amount of C-PACE dollars invested by private sector lenders to $100MM in Philadelphia, a true landmark in the program which became active in late 2019, just before the pandemic-induced recession.

C-PACE financing is being used for extensive energy efficiency improvements, making the building 30% more efficient than required by Philadelphia’s building energy code. Financed measures include energy efficient walls and glass, interior and exterior LED lighting, variable volume air handlers, freezer evaporators, domestic water heater, and exhaust fans. C-PACE financing is projected to contribute to the annual reduction of 1,661,573 pounds of CO2-e.

According to BG Capital’s Managing Partner Joe Byrne, “in these challenging times, alternative debt solutions like C-PACE have now become critical in rounding out the capital stack within larger scale projects. We are extremely fortunate to work with the team at Nuveen Green Capital on getting this deal over the finish line and working with a company whose product has an emphasis on sustainability within our industry.”

Shelah Wallace, Director, Originations at Nuveen Green Capital stated that “it was a pleasure to work closely with BG Capital and Freezpak, Ocean First Bank, and the Philadelphia Energy Authority on getting us to the closing table at a time when interest rates continuously fluctuated and parties risked losing rate locks. We look forward to financing more energy efficient projects together in the future.”

“This project is a great example of how clean energy financing enables job creation and creates economic development. We use energy as a tool for positive local impact, and this project exemplifies that,” said Matt Stern, Senior Director of Commercial Programs at the Philadelphia Energy Authority, which administers the Philadelphia C-PACE program. “In addition to the construction jobs being created by this facility, Freezpak expects to generate over 60 permanent jobs at the facility.”

Details on this and all Philadelphia C-PACE deals can be found here.

Interested in learning more about C-PACE? Contact us at cpace@philaenergy.org and/or attend our C-PACE Open Meetings.

August 5, 2021

Kirkbride Center uses C-PACE

The Philadelphia Energy Authority completed its 5th C-PACE financing in Philadelphia. The Kirkbride Center, a historic health services center in West Philadelphia, obtained $4.33MM in C-PACE financing for upgrades to its boiler and chiller plants.

CounterpointeSRE Provides $4.33 Million in C-PACE Financing to Improve Energy Efficiency at Kirkbride Center in Philadelphia