CleanFund, Petros and Renew Financial collaborate to provide critical seismic improvements to Seton Medical Center
Seton Medical Center campus, Daily City, CaliforniaDALY CITY, CA (May 23, 2017) – Today, CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital, Petros PACE Finance, and Renew Financial completed funding for $40 million of seismic upgrades to the Seton Medical Center, owned by Verity Health Systems, in Daly City, CA. This project is the largest PACE financing in history, quadrupling the previous record of $10 million on a single project.
Renew Financial administered the project through the CaliforniaFIRST PACE Program. CleanFund originated the transaction, bringing in PETROS and each provided $20 million to fund the critical safety improvements, which will allow the building to meet California’s mandatory Hospital Seismic Safety Act (SB 1953).
“This is the largest C-PACE financing in history, and would not have been possible without the hard work of the CleanFund teams, as well as our partners at Verity, Renew and Petros,” said CleanFund CEO Greg Saunders. “We’re proud of the fact that this capital will provide a significant public safety and health benefit for Verity’s Seton Medical Center, ensuring local acute healthcare services to the community for years to come.”
“This is a milestone event in our industry,” said Petros CEO Mansoor Ghori. “The size of this transaction is unprecedented in the C-PACE market, as is the partnering of two competitors to co-finance the deal. This transaction breaks down barriers and sets a precedent on how C-PACE financing can be used for much larger and more ambitious projects than C-PACE funding has traditionally enabled.”
Seismic retrofits to California’s hospitals are often necessary to ensure patients’ safety, but the upfront cost of these upgrades can be prohibitive. In this case, PACE financed 100% of the project’s costs and allowed those costs to be paid back with a fixed interest rate over 30 years as part of the Seton’s property tax bill, which significantly reduced the burden on Verity.
“This project highlights the incredible power of PACE to upgrade critical building infrastructure like our nation’s hospitals,” said Renew Financial CEO Cisco DeVries. “Because of PACE, Seton Medical Center is able to make crucial investments in its safety and operations. That’s great news for nurses, doctors, hospital patients and their families. The entire community benefits. Renew Financial is honored to have supported this project, and glad our platform enabled participation from multiple investors.”
The partnership – with two PACE providers jointly funding a commercial project – was a first of its kind. CleanFund, Petros, and Renew Financial worked with a number of additional parties to complete the transaction, including the Verity legal department, the law firms of Squire Patton Boggs and Jones Hall, and the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) who was the joint powers authority that issued the bonds involved in the transaction.
“CSCDA is proud to support its member cities and counties by offering PACE as an innovative financing tool to fund critical infrastructure needs,” said James Hamill, CSCDA’s Managing Director.
The investment will help meet state standards and improve the safety of the Seton Medical Center for decades to come, and the $40 million financing will generate significant economic development and create jobs for contractors, equipment manufacturers, and local businesses.
About CleanFund
CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital is the leading direct provider of long-term financing for energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy and seismic improvements to commercial, multifamily and other nonresidential properties in the U.S. With significant expertise in commercial real estate, finance, renewable energy and PACE policy, CleanFund’s PACEDirect™ and SolarPACE™ financing programs enable property owners to upgrade their properties with no up-front cost, increasing property cash flows and value. For more information, please visit http://cleanfund.com.
About Petros PACE Finance
Austin-based Petros PACE Finance, LLC is solely dedicated to providing long-term PACE financing to U.S. commercial property owners seeking to increase their property values and reduce their carbon footprint. The principals of Petros PACE Finance – Mansoor Ghori, Tommy Deavenport and Jim Stanislaus – have substantial experience in structured finance and lending, and bring significant value to all parties involved in the transactions in which they participate. For more information, please visit www.Petros-Pace.com.
About Seton Medical Center
Founded in 1893, Seton Medical Center is a 357-bed hospital serving 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County with comprehensive inpatient and outpatient medical specialties, as well as emergency and urgent care services. Its sister facility, Seton Coastside, is a 116-bed skilled nursing complex offering inpatient care and the only 24-hour standby Emergency Department on the Pacific Coast between Daly City and Santa Cruz. Seton is part of Verity Health System.
About Renew Financial
Renew Financial is one of the nation’s leading home improvement financing companies. Renew Financial provides multiple financing products across the country, with programs available in several states, including Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs operating in California and Florida. PACE is a state-enabled, local government-controlled financing tool that enables property owners to access private capital to finance the entire cost of energy efficiency, resiliency to drought, earthquakes, and hurricanes, and renewable energy upgrades to their homes and businesses, and then repay those costs on their property tax bill. PACE was named by Scientific American as one of the “top 20 ideas that can change the world.” PACE is a job-creating policy tool that has enjoyed bipartisan support, having been championed in state legislatures by members from both sides of the aisle.
Renew Financial is a pending trademark of Renew Financial Holdings Inc. The Renew Financial CaliforniaFIRST financing program is sponsored by the California Statewide Communities Development Authority, Los Angeles County and Western Riverside Council of Governments and is administered by Renew Financial Group LLC.
About PACE
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is a financing mechanism that enables low-cost, long-term funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation projects. PACE financing is repaid as an assessment on the property’s regular tax bill, and is processed the same way as other local public benefit assessments (sidewalks, sewers) have been for decades. Depending on local legislation, PACE can be used for commercial, nonprofit and residential properties. For more information, visit http://pacenation.us/.