CHLA Lodging News Sept/Oct 2019

www.calodging.com September/October 2019 17 C-PACE, an Innovative Financing Mechanism for Hotel Construction and Retrofit By Dana White, Director of Business Development, Greenworks Lending AS GREEN INITIATIVES CONTINUE THEIR rise in California, hotel owners and developers are increasingly recognizing the many financial and environmental benefits to 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, as the State of California takes action to protect its economy against the impacts of climate change through increasingly strict building codes, today’s developers and property owners are also being confronted with escalating raw material costs and skilled labor shortages, which can threaten profitability and long-term value creation. Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) can close the gap with a new option for owners and developers of hotels to fund up to 100% of energy-efficient and renewable building upgrades and new construction on a non-recourse permanent loan basis. C-PACE functions through a public-private partnership enacted by state law and is funded entirely by private lenders. The funding is earmarked solely for energy-related improvements such as water conservation, seismic resiliency, for renewables (e.g. solar power and storage), lighting, mechanical, plumbing, elevator continues  