Building owners and developers are increasingly recognizing the financial and environmental benefits of clean energy. According to a recent ULI study, these initiatives increase property values by boosting net operating income and help to attract occupancy in modernized buildings. However, coming up with the upfront capital for these large-scale projects can be a big hurdle for property owners and developers. Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) allows building owners and developers to fund up to 100% of energy-efficient and renewable building upgrades and new construction on a non-recourse permanent loan basis.

As C-PACE capital providers, we are lucky to be in a position where we can help property owners and developers save money while also helping to reduce their energy usage and carbon emissions, there is no trade-off needed. Through C-PACE, Greenworks provides 100% upfront capital to make it possible for commercial property owners to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy projects.

C-PACE is enabled through a public-private partnership enacted by state or local municipality law and is funded entirely by private capital providers (like Greenworks). The funding is earmarked solely for energy-related improvements such as water conservation, seismic resiliency, renewables (e.g. solar power and storage), lighting, mechanical, plumbing, elevator upgrades and HVAC efficiency along with all related soft costs (e.g. design, engineering and permitting, etc.).

While facilitating sustainability efforts is certainly important, C-PACE reduces property owners’ annual costs and provides dramatically better-than-market financing for green new construction, remodeling and adaptive reuse. The C-PACE program is designed to help owners optimize their buildings by using the long-term, fixed rate, non-recourse funding to address the full building envelope as opposed to individual measures. By working alongside development advisers like Vision+Architecture Studio to design and adapt buildings with energy efficiency and water conservation optimization in mind, we are able to provide solutions so that the improvement to building performance pays for itself via the utilities cost savings.

Greenworks proves daily that clean energy and energy efficiency investments are smart business decisions for all types of commercial real estate developers and building owners across the country. And Greenworks has found a fellow crusader for a greener Texas in the design team at Vision+Architecture. Together with C1S engineers and construction managers, the partnership offers a full turnkey PACE project delivery team.