Renew Financial's Commercial PACE (C-PACE) Platform Facilitates $40 Million Seismic Retrofit of Seton Medical Center

OAKLAND, Calif., May 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Renew Financial, a leading clean energy finance company, announced today the close of the largest Commercial PACE transaction in history, a $40 million earthquake retrofit upgrade for Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California. The project will provide funds necessary for Seton Medical Center to meet California's earthquake retrofitting requirements mandated by the Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act (SB 1953). The project was made possible by a collaboration that included CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital, Petros PACE Finance, the California State Community Development Authority (CSCDA), Renew Financial and the client, Verity Health Systems. CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital originated the project and provided $20 million. Petros PACE Finance, which was brought into the project by CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital, also provided $20 million. This is the largest commercial project ever financed with Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE).

"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. Kudos to the teams at CleanFund and Petros. This is the biggest C-PACE project so far, and it makes us even more excited for the work we have ahead of us."

In cities and states where it is active, PACE financing empowers property owners to finance the entire cost of certain energy, water, seismic and/or hurricane mitigation upgrades, and then gradually repay those costs as a line item on their property tax bill. PACE financing is a huge win-win for property owners and policy makers. PACE helps property owners make their homes and businesses safer and more efficient—and more valuable—in a way that makes long-term economic sense, and not a single penny of taxpayer money is used.

The Seton Medical Center seismic upgrade is four times larger than the previous record of $10 million on a single project. It represents a major step forward.

Greg Saunders, CleanFund's CEO, noted "The largest C-PACE financing in history would not have been possible without the hard work of the CleanFund team, as well as our partners at Verity Health System, Petros and Renew Financial. We're proud of the fact that this capital will provide a significant public safety and health benefit for Verity's Seton Medical Center. We look forward to further collaboration with Petros and Renew Financial on future transactions."

"This is a milestone event in our industry," said Petros PACE Finance CEO, Mansoor Ghori. "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. In this case, we're funding a critical seismic project that will allow Seton to continue serving the San Mateo County community for decades to come, and we're doing it in a way that minimizes additional constraints on the hospital's budget since it is being financed over 30 years."    

To date, Renew Financial estimates that its financing products have:

• Created more than 15,000 jobs across 15 states
• Conserved 877,176,637 gallons of water over the life of its projects – enough water for 48 million showers¹
• Realized over $1.5 billion in energy savings over the life of its projects
• Cut total greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3 million metric tons over the life of its projects – equivalent to yearly emissions of 485,000 cars²
• And funded nearly 83,600 projects through the end of 2016

For more information about Renew Financial, visit www.renewfinancial.com.

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 www.CleanFund.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 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.

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. 

Additional information may be found at:

renewfinancial.com | @RenewFinancial | LinkedIn | Facebook | Blog

¹ 18 gallons per shower, source:
https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/docs/ws_shower_better_learning_resource_508.pdf

² 4.7 metrics tons per car per year, source: 
https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle-0

SOURCE Renew Financial