How to get Approved for Commercial PACE Financing

June 2019

Commercial PACE funds are lent to borrowers to finance construction projects that improve the operational quality of a property; they are funded by private investors and banks; they give borrowers the option to take long repayment terms, up to 25 years; and they come with unique tax advantages that often make them the cheapest capital option available.

However, Commercial PACE is only available through government-sponsored programs. The rules of each program vary by state. Therefore, the application process can be very different from a traditional loan from a bank.

1. Verify that there is a program in your area

The first step in getting PACE funding is to make sure that it is available in your area. Commercial PACE legislation has passed in over 37 states plus the District of Columbia; however, only 19 states plus D.C. have started a PACE program. To be able to receive PACE funding, your city needs to be part of a PACE program. One of the most up-to-date lists of towns with PACE programs can be found on the PACENation.org website. For businesses in D.C., Unety can help you verify that your area has a program. Just visit the Apply Now page of our website and enter your zip code.

2. Verify that you can pay a property tax

While you can receive Commercial PACE for many property types, it’s not allowed for all types. Specifically, you can’t get PACE on most government-owned properties. There are some exceptions to this rule in D.C., such as when government-owned land that is used by a private business under the terms of a ground lease. However, the borrower always needs to be able to pay a property tax. Most property owners, ground lessees, and tenants can pay a property tax; that includes places of worship. If you are a tenant under a net or gross lease, chances are you are already paying a property tax as either part of your rent or as a separate charge.

3. Funds must be used to improve the operational quality of property

If a project costs at least $50,000; is fixed to a commercial property; and involves repairing, replacing, or newly installing equipment or materials that impacts either your water bill or your energy bill, chances are that it would qualify for PACE. From windows, walls, and roof work to HVAC, lighting, and plumbing to renewable energy, there is a very wide variety of projects that have received PACE financing. If you’re not sure about this one, that’s okay. Try out Unety’s cash flow calculator on the homepage page of our website. If the calculator shows you reducing your utility bills and you’re doing a project that’s on the list of preapproved project types, you’ll probably be fine.

4. The value of the property must be high enough to protect the borrower

Most PACE programs include a rule that requires the value of the property to be high enough to protect the borrower if there is ever a default. For borrowers in most jurisdictions, the property must be 3 times the amount of the PACE for properties that are debt free, or 4 times the amount of the PACE for properties that have an existing mortgage. So, if you want to borrow $50,000, your property should be worth at least $200,000.

5. The amount of debt on the property should not over burden the borrower

Another common consumer protection are rules that limit the amount of debt already on the property. This helps to ensure that the borrower is not over burdened by debt when they apply for PACE. In most jurisdictions, the debt limit is set at 85% of the value of the property, inclusive of PACE.

6. No present threats of repossession

The final qualifications for receiving PACE funding relate to verifying that there are no risks that property ownership could be lost. The owner of the property must prove they have a clear title to the property (if you’re a tenant applying for PACE, your landlord will need to work with you and submit proof to your PACE lender). The lender may also check public records to verify that the property has not defaulted on taxes for at least three years and that there is no history of environmental contamination on the site.

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The firm predicts that, by 2020, 100 million Internet-connected wireless light bulbs and lamps will be installed. As one of best sources from which to save energy and improve workplace functionality, whole lighting systems can respond to the availability of natural light or presence of occupants spread across a building and automatically adjust in real-time down to the level of a single bulb.</p> <p>While traditional building equipment in older buildings still lacks embedded intelligence, companies like Enlighted can leverage existing building management systems to introduce operation optimization algorithms to otherwise dumb equipment. The Silicon Valley-based global provider of end-to-end managed application services also uses cloud technology to connect the disparate building systems within a single building or across whole global portfolios. Combined with skilled facilities management staff, this level of integration opens new frontiers in how humans, machines and buildings can interact.</p> <h2>Energy sourcing: onsite energy technology goes net zero</h2> <p>First the bad news: The United States generates more CO2 emissions than any country in the world except China; and commercial and residential properties generate approximately 40 percent of these emissions in the United States, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Energy consumption is the driver of all this. With nearly 30 percent of the $202 billion spent annually on U.S. commercial and industrial energy wasted, it’s not surprising that energy efficiency is a priority for commercial property owners. In fact, investing $279 billion in U.S. building efficiency could save more than $1 trillion in energy costs over 10 years, with every dollar invested producing three dollars of operational savings, according to report from The Rockefeller Foundation and Deutsche Bank Group.</p> <div class="up-articles__content__image up-articles__content__image--right" style="width: 370px"> <span class="gatsby-resp-image-wrapper" style="position: relative; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 768px;"> <a class="gatsby-resp-image-link" href="/static/d48618dd275bb80945d5bd0aab1d2a54/7fd22/energy-sourcing.jpg" style="display: block" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <span class="gatsby-resp-image-background-image" style="padding-bottom: 56.25%; position: relative; bottom: 0; left: 0; background-image: url(&apos;data:image/jpeg;base64,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&apos;); background-size: cover; display: block;"></span> <img class="gatsby-resp-image-image" alt="Energy sourcing" title="Energy sourcing" src="/static/d48618dd275bb80945d5bd0aab1d2a54/7fd22/energy-sourcing.jpg" srcset="/static/d48618dd275bb80945d5bd0aab1d2a54/40f63/energy-sourcing.jpg 225w, /static/d48618dd275bb80945d5bd0aab1d2a54/df2c7/energy-sourcing.jpg 450w, /static/d48618dd275bb80945d5bd0aab1d2a54/7fd22/energy-sourcing.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" loading="lazy"> </a> </span> </div> <p>Now the good news: An energy efficiency call to action is being heeded. U.S. GhG emissions have declined by 10 percent since 2005 primarily thanks to energy efficiency. To further accelerate these reductions, we can compound the efficiency gains on the demand side with improvements on the supply side.</p> <p>The transformation of energy markets from coal to natural gas – enabled in part by fracking – is already showing how quickly a low carbon energy supply impacts national greenhouse gas emissions. Building-integrated energy generation has the potential to be even more disruptive.</p> <p>Adoption of onsite renewable energy technologies is rapidly increasing. Tax incentives and technological advances have made wind, geothermal and solar power installation, smaller, more powerful and more affordable today than in the past. They can even be incorporated into traditional building materials, substantially reducing installation and material costs. Solar power generating paint, windows, and road-surfacing materials are just a few of the applications for building component materials happening today.</p> <p>Waste conversion technologies are also on the rise. New alternative options include biogas digesters that can turn methane from food waste into electricity. On a smaller scale, it is becoming common place for a building can to use refrigerator exhaust to heat water, heat exchangers to heat the building with the heat generated by office machines and computers, or drivers to convert the motion of vertical transportation systems into electricity. For existing buildings which are expensive to retrofit with these new advanced technologies, building owners can partner with renewable energy companies that will install and maintain energy equipment at no cost, in exchange for an energy-purchase agreement and the right to sell excess energy to the municipal grid. In fact, commercial property owners can use an energy matchmaking service that recommends the most cost-effective options, also at no cost to the property owner—a timely service, given the growing universe of highly technical solutions.</p> <p>New renewable energy technologies, and falling prices for older technologies, have led to the emergence of “net-zero” and “Living Building” standards for environmentally friendly buildings. While exact definitions vary, the concept is that the total energy a building consumes annually is equal to or less than the amount of energy it creates. Most zero-energy buildings tap the public electrical grids for energy storage and backup power, but some are entirely independent. All rely on some form of renewable energy, combined with energy-efficient building design, systems and operation.</p> <p>For all the advancements in building-integrated renewable energies, you might be wondering you haven’t heard of it having a bigger impact already. The truth is that the building-integrated energy generation sector hasn’t had its “fracking moment,” but that may be just around the corner. The biggest barrier to more wide-spread adoption is efficient energy storage, and solutions are coming. Startups are emerging around the world with innovative products. Even automakers like BMW are getting involved. Solving this issue will do as much for building-integrated and distributed energy as the development of Nikola Tesla’s AC current generators did for centralized district power nearly a century ago.</p> <h2>The incredible shrinking power grid</h2> <div class="up-articles__content__image up-articles__content__image--left" style="width: 370px"> <span class="gatsby-resp-image-wrapper" style="position: relative; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 610px;"> <a class="gatsby-resp-image-link" href="/static/554a91e64332e819ba68d316d39dcc9f/4b0de/power-grid.jpg" style="display: block" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <span class="gatsby-resp-image-background-image" style="padding-bottom: 58.19672131147541%; position: relative; bottom: 0; left: 0; background-image: url(&apos;data:image/jpeg;base64,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&apos;); background-size: cover; display: block;"></span> <img class="gatsby-resp-image-image" alt="Power Grid" title="Power Grid" src="/static/554a91e64332e819ba68d316d39dcc9f/4b0de/power-grid.jpg" srcset="/static/554a91e64332e819ba68d316d39dcc9f/40f63/power-grid.jpg 225w, /static/554a91e64332e819ba68d316d39dcc9f/df2c7/power-grid.jpg 450w, /static/554a91e64332e819ba68d316d39dcc9f/4b0de/power-grid.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px" loading="lazy"> </a> </span> </div> <p>Combined, the use of smart building technologies and renewable energy is displacing the traditional centralized power model with the technology-driven distributed energy concept. Today, a group of connected buildings can become its own energy self-sufficient microgrid, exchanging power among its members from diverse power sources. With the emergence of interactive smart grids in some communities, a smart building can even sell excess energy to the utility company.</p> <p>The United States may even see the kind of market disruption that Germany is already experiencing, where renewable energy powers half of the country’s electricity-generating capacity, and the system of centralized power generation is up-ended, in favor of locally generated power.</p> <p>These innovations in futuristic building technologies represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to greening the built environment. As demand for sustainably created and operated buildings continues to grow, we expect more exciting developments will move from the lab into actual practice.</p>
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