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Historic medical and social services center utilizes C-PACE to improve energy infrastructure and meet ESG goals through the Philadelphia C-PACE program and Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate.
GREENWICH, Conn., Aug 3, 2021 – CounterpointeSRE (Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate) announced today that it has closed $4.33 million in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing for the Kirkbride Center, a 17-acre healthcare and social service campus with a National Historic Landmark status owned by CoreCare Systems, Inc. in West Philadelphia dedicated to providing behavioral health and residential services for those in need.
“We have a responsibility and desire to provide the best possible healing environment,” stated John Fleming, director of the Kirkbride Center. “PACE financing through CounterpointeSRE is helping us keep our facilities up to date and operating efficiently which provides a foundation for us to help those in need of our collective services.”
Through C-PACE financing, the Kirkbride Center’s 390,000 square feet of living, healthcare and office space will benefit from an improved healing environment with upgrades to its chillers and boiler plant. The investment in energy efficiency also benefits the community through reduced greenhouse gas emissions and a commitment by the owners to use community-based minority-owned contractors to complete the work.
“This meaningful project illustrates the program’s ability to attract private capital to help our community,” stated Matt Stern, Senior Director of Commercial Programs at the Philadelphia Energy Authority, which administers the Philadelphia C-PACE Program. “The funding for energy efficiency upgrades supports Kirkbride’s healing environment while minimizing its energy use and the associated cost burden,” he continued.
The Philadelphia C-PACE Program approved eligible improvements that will provide an estimated annual CO2e savings of 668 metric tons and a reduction of 10,492 MBTu/year. The resulting efficiency is projected to yield $92,986 in annual utility savings. The impact of the project will be tracked through EnergyStar portfolio manager, an interactive resource management tool that benchmarks energy use for nearly 25% of U.S. commercial building space.
“Facilities that operate for the common good such as healthcare and universities can use C-PACE financing without impacting credit rating and with no capital expenditure to upgrade equipment,” stated Michele Pitale, Managing Director at CounterpointeSRE. “Kirkbride demonstrates how C-PACE can help facilitate positive environmental impact and help corporations meet ESG goals, especially by large power and water users with complex infrastructure and commercial real estate needs,” Dr. Pitale continued.
What is PACE financing:
Through the property tax mechanism and public-private partnership, PACE financing makes it possible for owners and developers of commercial properties to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy and other resiliency infrastructure in new or existing buildings. These green infrastructure elements, all related work and associated soft costs can be financed with no capital expenditure and are repaid through the property tax bill up to a term of the useful life of improvements (often as long as 20-30 years).
About the Kirkbride Center:
CoreCare Behavioral acquired the property in 1997 to reestablish the center as a healthcare resource for the community. Now, after years of dedicated efforts to fulfill a mission of serving the public good, the owners have revitalized the campus, which houses educational services and provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation (CoreCare Behavioral Health Management, Inc.), a family homeless shelter (Traveler’s Aid), women’s shelter services (City of Philadelphia) and food services for patients and residents.
About Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate:
Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate (CounterpointeSRE) is a leading commercial real estate finance provider specializing in sustainable infrastructure improvements through PACE financing. Since 2013, Counterpointe and its affiliates have financed commercial real estate construction and upgrades that have reduced annual electricity consumption by greater than 51,000 MWh per year and reduced water consumption by 23 million gallons per year.
For more information, visit counterpointesre.com.
