SYRACUSE — Nearly four years after it re-opened, the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, the former Hotel Syracuse, is preparing for a nearly $10 million project for energy-saving upgrades. “Physical work in the building won’t start for about another 35, 45 days,” says Ed Riley, CEO of Brine Wells Development. Brine Wells Development, the hotel developer; […]
SYRACUSE — Nearly four years after it re-opened, the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, the former Hotel Syracuse, is preparing for a nearly $10 million project for energy-saving upgrades.
“Physical work in the building won’t start for about another 35, 45 days,” says Ed Riley, CEO of Brine Wells Development.
Brine Wells Development, the hotel developer; the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA); the City of Syracuse; and the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board (CNY RPDB) announced the project during a Monday morning event in the hotel’s lobby.
The $9.9 million in financing is New York’s largest transaction to date through the Energy Improvement Corporation’s (EIC) commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) program.
Energy Improvement Corporation (EIC) is a New York nonprofit, local development corporation that operates EIC Open C-PACE for the benefit of its member municipalities, which include counties and cities across New York, per its Linkedin page. It is headquartered in Katonah in Westchester County.
The hotel opened in 2016 following a historical restoration of the 1920s-era building. Further renovations, expected to be complete in May 2020, will add 50 rooms, along with additional function space and a restaurant. Energy-efficient measures incorporated in the renovations included improvements to the property’s building envelope; plumbing; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; lighting; and electrical systems.
“On lighting, we’ll continue putting in all new lighting that’s LEDs [light-emitting diodes] so our footprint in terms of what we consume to light this building is down significantly on what it would be in the … old days with the incandescents. So all those things will continue to be implemented as we go forward. We’ll be finishing the last phase of the project and we’ll be done,” Riley said in answering a reporter’s question.
“What’s so exciting about having the … Marriott Syracuse Downtown be a partner on C-PACE is that everyone looks to the hotel as an example of how you do development right in this community … By using this program, not only was he doing what was right from a financing perspective but he was doing what was right from a sustainability and energy efficiency program,” said Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.
About EIC Open C-PACE
Authorized by the City of Syracuse in December 2019, the City’s EIC Open C-PACE program channels private capital to commercial and nonprofit building owners to make energy upgrades to their buildings, enabling them to improve their properties, lower operating expenses and positively impact the environment and their communities.
Open C-PACE differs from traditional bank lending by channeling longer term and flexible private-sector financing to commercial and nonprofit building owners, like Brine Wells, to make to make energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades to their buildings, which are repaid through charges, assessed and collected through property taxes, Jeff Pitkin, treasurer at NYSERDA, said in his remarks at the March 9 event.
“This enables them to improve their properties, lower their operating expenses, and positively impact their communities,” he added.
EIC Open C-PACE is one of 10 high-impact actions which municipalities can take under NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program. By completing at least four “high-impact” actions, any local government in New York can earn NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Community designation. The City of Syracuse was designated a Clean Energy Community in May 2018 and was awarded a grant in the amount of $150,000, which the City is using to convert outdoor lighting to energy efficient LED technology.
EIC Open C-PACE is the city’s 5th completed “high-impact” action, per a March 9 news release about the project at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown.
Austin, Texas–based Petros PACE Finance, LLC on Feb. 24 announced it had closed its $9.9 million C-PACE transaction with Brine Wells Development.
“This is the first C-PACE project Petros has funded in New York, marking the second new market we’ve expanded into so far in 2020,” Mansoor Ghori, co-founder and CEO of Petros PACE Finance, said. “We anticipate New York becoming a large market for C-PACE and look forward to working with more owners and developers like Brine Wells as they seek a more efficient way to capitalize challenging projects that also align with the state of New York’s broader energy efficiency and carbon reduction goals.”
When asked about Petros and its connection to the project, Riley told a CNYBJ reporter that it was one of six lenders that had approached the Marriott Syracuse Downtown about providing financing, and Riley called Petros “a great partner.”
The Hayner Hoyt Corp. of Syracuse is serving as the general contractor for the project.