Denver Office Building Funds Major Energy Efficiency Renovations With C-PACE Financing

Lafayette, CO—Colorado C-PACE announced today that LCP Development as property manager for Freeheel Properties is leveraging C-PACE financing to support a comprehensive energy improvement project on a 22,002 SF office building on South Poplar Street in Denver.

The project includes replacement of the existing boiler with two condensing boilers, replacement of the condensing units, conversion of the air handling units to variable-air-volume operation equipped with variable frequency drives and domestic hot water pump controls. The upgrade also included the installation of a DDC building energy management system and new control strategies, as well as an LED interior lighting retrofit.

Gail Quan, CFO of LCP Development, said, “This is our third project to use C-PACE financing which increases both the energy efficiency and value of our property portfolio. The fact that each project was financed by a different lender is testimony to the many benefits that the Colorado C-PACE program’s open market for financing brings to property owners.”

Greenwood Village-based Integro Strategic Finance, PACE specialists for commercial property owners, provided LCP Development with consulting services. Integro partnered with Denver-based Group 14 Engineering for project savings analysis and optimization. The project is estimated to save $478,000 in utility cost over the effective useful life of the installed equipment.

Financing was provided by Community Banks of Colorado, their first time participating in the C-PACE program. Vice President and Relationship Manager Kelly Wright said, “Community Banks is excited to offer C-PACE financing to our clients. This innovative program brings flexible solutions for businesses, large and small, and simultaneously reduces expenses while allowing owners to invest in long-lived assets.”

About Colorado C-PACE

A program of the New Energy Improvement District (NEID), administered by Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Colorado C-PACE facilitates financing for energy and water improvements in new and existing commercial buildings, including new heating/cooling systems, lighting, water pumps, insulation, and renewable energy projects. C-PACE offers long-term financing that covers 100 percent of the project cost and is repaid over a period of up to 25 years. The payments are structured as a regular line item on the property tax bill.  When a property is sold, the C-PACE assessment can stay with the property and transfer to the new owner, who enjoys the ongoing utility cost savings associated with the project.

About SRS

Sustainable Real Estate Solutions (SRS) partners with state and local governments to administer commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) programs. Founded in 2010 by experienced commercial real estate and energy efficiency professionals, the company’s proprietary technology-enabled PACEworx™ Platform streamlines the management of the data-intensive C-PACE technical and financial underwriting process. SRS’s Investor Confidence Project-credentialed quality assurance methodology has facilitated more than $315 million in C-PACE financing nationwide. SRS empowers C-PACE public-private partnerships across the country. The company is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.