(Photo: Tulsa Club Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton. Credit: Hilton)Petros PACE Finance, LLC has closed two Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) transactions totaling $4.9 million with Ross Group, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based commercial real estate owner and developer, to finance energy-saving building measures in the redevelopment of two properties into hotels in downtown Tulsa.
Ross Group secured $3.2 million in C-PACE financing for the recently completed renovation and conversion of the historic building into a 90-room Hilton Curio hotel, in addition to $1.7 million in C-PACE financing for the construction of the 116-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites — Downtown Tulsa. The deals mark the first C-PACE transactions to close in Oklahoma.
Ross Group will use the funds for sustainable design elements, which were incorporated into the redevelopment of the two properties, including efficient heating, cooling, plumbing and lighting systems, along with building envelope improvements. The Tulsa Club's 1920s-era building was home to a prominent social club in the city but sat vacant for years before its recent conversion into a hotel. The site of the Holiday Inn Express Downtown Tulsa was previously occupied by two older commercial buildings.
C-PACE is a relatively new financing tool for energy and water efficiency projects, which has grown quickly in recent years. As a low-cost, long-term permanent financing product secured as a property tax assessment, it provides developers with an alternative to mezzanine debt and equity that lowers overall capital costs and allows them to invest in higher efficiency building designs.
PACE Financial Servicing serves as the administrator of the Tulsa County, Oklahoma PACE program. Ross Group Construction Corporation is the owner and developer for the Tulsa Club Hotel — Curio by Hilton and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites — Downtown. Oklahoma marks the sixth state where Petros has closed the first C-PACE transaction and expands the firm's national footprint to eleven states and Washington, D.C.
