Commercial, Energy Efficiency  -  July 20, 2020

Pennsylvania plans first C-PACE deal with multi-use facility

Pennsylvania will see its first-ever C-PACE deal in the form of $1.5 million in energy and water investments in Philadelphia through an agreement between the Philadelphia Energy Authority, Twain Financial Partners and SHIFT Capital.

Energy and water efficiency upgrades will be implemented at a new mixed-use development in the Kensington-Harrowgate neighborhood, which SHIFT Capital agreed to borrow the funds for from Twain Financial. The C-PACE financing will cover projects that reduce operating costs for the commercial spaces in the 30,000 square-foot J-centrel building, including LED lighting, window replacements with insulation and low-e glazing, energy recovery units, variable refrigerant flow heat pumps, and low-flow plumbing.

The project developers expect these projects to reduce the building’s carbon footprint by 2,700 metric tons of CO2e.

 “SHIFT Capital is excited to use C-PACE for our J-centrel project,” Brian Murray, CEO and Founder of Shift Capital, the developer of J-centrel, said in a statement. “C-PACE was a key tool for rounding out our capital stack, reducing ongoing operating costs, and making our building more green. C-PACE provided us with competitively-priced financing and a long-term repayment schedule to allow the energy efficiency improvements for the commercial portion of the project to be cash flow positive right away.”

C-PACE financing was first made possible in Pennsylvania in 2018 through the state legislature and was approved by the Philadelphia City Council in June 2019. Commercial building operators will be able to take advantage of this financing opportunity moving forward.

“With this project, Pennsylvania C-PACE is open for business,” Emily Schapira, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Energy Authority, the Philadelphia C-PACE Program Administrator, said. “Philadelphia is leading the charge in building a robust, equitable clean energy economy, and we are proud to be home to the state’s first C-PACE deal.”

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