CounterpointeSRE Announces Expedited Financing Process to help San Francisco Property Owners meet Fast-Approaching Mandatory Soft-Story Retrofit Deadlines

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- CounterpointeSRE, a national leader in energy efficiency PACE financing, announced today an expedited financing process to allow owners access to long-term, low-cost capital. The announcement comes as deadlines loom in San Francisco for compliance with the city's mandatory Soft-Story Retrofit Program. The expedited funding program, called "C-PACE 1," saves time by reducing the documents required from property owners.

C-PACE 1 requires no appraisal or financials for buildings that qualify for the program, and have a project financed amount of less than $1 million.

"Since 2014, Counterpointe has been working with property owners to ease the financial burdens of the Soft-Story Retrofit Program," stated Michele Pitale, Managing Director at CounterpointeSRE. "This enhancement, bringing C-PACE 1 to the San Francisco market to help speed the process, will be a key finishing element to what has been a very successful program."

Tier 3 buildings have a deadline of September 15, 2019 while Tier 4 buildings have a deadline of September 15, 2020. A delineation of building tiers is provided on the San Francisco Department of Buildings Inspection website, sfdbi.org.

To date, there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to Counterpointe's resiliency programs as the firm has provided nearly $65 million in financing for resiliency improvements including seismic strengthening and hurricane resistance in commercial buildings in California and Florida.

In 2014, the City of San Francisco selected Counterpointe to become its official financing partner for its Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program, created by the Earthquake Safety Implementation Committee to ensure the safety and resilience of San Francisco's housing stock. CounterpointeSRE has since developed un-paralleled expertise in PACE financing for seismic retrofits, which has grown to also include financing for Living Roofs (Green Roofs) and eligible energy and water efficiency improvements in accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

The C-PACE 1 financing provided by CounterpointeSRE provides funding for 100% of retrofit project costs, including soft costs such as permitting and engineering. The team works with property owners to also include energy efficiency and other improvements that project an immediate positive cash flow, which helps offset the cost of the resiliency improvements.

Through the CounterpointeSRE PACE program, the local county or municipality allows for the placement of a voluntary tax assessment, as the retrofit is deemed a public good. This assessment is repaid with long term, fixed rates through an additional line item on the property tax statement. This allows property owners to finance improvements while preserving capital and benefitting from off balance sheet treatment. Additionally, assessments are tied to the property so they may be passed through to tenants, are non-recourse to owners and are transferrable upon sale of the property.

About CounterpointeSRE
CounterpointeSRE (Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate) is a leading commercial real estate PACE financing provider specializing commercial real estate improvement nationwide from $100,000 to $500,000,000+. Counterpointe Energy Solutions together with its subsidiaries is engaged in implementing, funding, managing and administering PACE programs and is a program administrator in the City of Chicago, California and Florida. For more information, visit counterpointesre.com.

SOURCE CounterpointeSRE