Historic Downtown Madison Building Closes First PACE Wisconsin Financing Deal

Commercial PACE (C-PACE) financing supports energy efficient components of redeveloping 102-year-old building into boutique hotel

MADISON, Wis. (March 12, 2018) – Baker Tilly Capital, LLC, a boutique investment bank, successfully sourced a $1.5 million Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan, the first closed deal for the PACE Wisconsin program. After 15 years of vacancy, a 102-year old warehouse and former home to Mautz Paint and Kleuter & Co. will undergo extensive renovation and five story addition to become Hotel Indigo Madison. The PACE loan will be used in the overall capital structure of the project to meet energy efficiency goals.

“Our clients are finding commercial PACE to be an important piece of the overall capital stack for both redevelopments and new projects,” Brad Elmer, managing director of Baker Tilly Capital’s incentive advisory practice, said. 

PACE is a financing program enabled by state and local legislation that provides long-term funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and other qualifying improvements made to a property.

In a rapidly evolving city and neighborhood, the project is significant to Madison’s industrial East side, located a few blocks from Wisconsin’s State Capitol building. Keeping the historic 5-story brick façade and addressing energy efficiency were two goals of the project. Given the additional costs associated with these goals, the PACE Wisconsin program provided necessary funding to accomplish energy efficient benchmarks.

Hotel Indigo Madison will feature new historic replica windows, energy efficient aluminum window wall glazing systems and other insulation measures. In addition, guest comfort will be facilitated by high efficiency HVAC and lighting systems.

The project secured a $1.5 million PACE loan and $5.1 million in Historic Tax Credits (HTC). Both financing methods were key in closing a critical gap in the capital structure and support energy efficient components of redeveloping the building and creating an authentic and unique destination for downtown Madison.

The Hotel Indigo project is a prime example of Commercial PACE’s reach touching both retrofitting existing commercial properties as well as new construction. Wisconsin is the third state to provide PACE financing for a hotel project.

To learn more about Baker Tilly’s PACE practice, visit bakertilly.com.

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Baker Tilly US, LLP (Baker Tilly) is a leading advisory, tax and assurance firm whose specialized professionals guide clients through an ever-changing business world, helping them win now and anticipate tomorrow. Headquartered in Chicago, Baker Tilly, and its affiliated entities, have operations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Baker Tilly is an independent member of Baker Tilly International, a worldwide network of independent accounting and business advisory firms in 145 territories, with 34,700 professionals. The combined worldwide revenue of independent member firms is $3.6 billion. Visit bakertilly.com or join the conversation on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.