Denver Owners Finance Retail Building Renovations With Colorado’s C-PACE Program

Lafayette, CO—Colorado C-PACE announced today that Westbrook Development Partners is leveraging CO C-PACE financing to support a retrofit project on their 13,789 sq. ft. retail building located at 2546 15th Street in downtown Denver. Project upgrades will include replacement of the roof including improved insulation, multiple new HVAC units, and the installation of interior LED lighting. This is Westbrook Development Partners’ second project using CO C-PACE financing. Their first project, a solar PV project on their Vallejo Street property, was completed in late 2018 on Prism Work Spaces, which caters to the creative class such as painters, sculptors, writers, and craftspeople.

Westbrook is a privately-owned real estate investment management company with their main office in the historic 15th Street building. Dan Strammiello, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Westbrook said; “We couldn’t put off installing a new roof on this building any longer. Thanks to Colorado C-PACE, what we thought was going to be a major capital outlay became a golden opportunity to significantly upgrade the entire building with the new roof, new HVAC units and LED lighting—all with no out-of-pocket expense. When all is said and done, we will have a more valuable, energy-efficient building, and our tenants will be more comfortable. Similar to our 2018 project on Vallejo, this project will bring down the utility costs and thus the occupancy costs as well.”

CloudForest Software & Consulting Inc., an energy efficiency and energy management consulting firm in Boulder County, Colorado, worked with Westbrook to develop the savings analysis for this project. CEO Aide Fitch said; “Since Westbrook had used C-PACE financing on another building, they knew they could tap into the program to help them replace an aging roof on this building. We got straight to the task of analyzing their energy footprint and quickly found over $73,000 in additional cost savings by upgrading the building’s interior lighting and HVAC equipment.”

ANB Bank funded the investment, which totaled just over $140,000. It is the sixth C-PACE project funded by the regional bank, which has locations in Colorado, Wyoming, and the Kansas City metro area. Michael Shaw, Assistant Vice President of ANB Bank, said; “We financed Westbrook’s first C-PACE project and, as a community bank, we were pleased to assist a local business to improve their asset by installing green measures while preserving their capital. We look forward to financing many more C-PACE projects in the coming year.”

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 $255 million in C-PACE financing nationwide. SRS empowers C-PACE public-private partnerships across the country. The company is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.