C-PACE: Imperial Ridge Renewables Launch

The three of us at Imperial Ridge have some exciting news — we have launched Imperial Ridge Renewables (IR Renewables), a new division of Imperial Ridge focused entirely on the finance and development of renewable energy projects for our commercial real estate clients.  

The decision to launch IR Renewables was both timely and rooted in our values, catalyzed by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) recently passed by Congress and a desire to increase the relative environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts of our capital (while also maintaining a required threshold of profitability). While our primary business of specialized CRE lending will always remain, IR Renewables provides an additional offering that is mutually beneficial to both parties. 

Many people don’t know this, but the partners at Imperial Ridge share considerable experience in both structuring capital for renewable energy projects (particularly tax equity) and the development of renewable energy assets. This, in combination with an even more robust history in CRE finance, development and private equity, puts Imperial Ridge in the unique position to leverage its capital to create targeted offerings for our CRE clients that goes beyond traditional energy savings and “save-the-world” strategies.  

Our primary focus for IR Renewables is to provide CRE owners with a means to obtain covered parking without having to bear the heavy capital expenditure on their balance sheet. Though it may not save on energy costs (it will be likely be structured to be energy cost-neutral), the owner can provide an additional benefit to tenants, meet zoning requirements, and potentially create a new revenue stream by monetizing new, shaded parking spots via our IR Renewables Solar Covered Parking Program.  

In additional to the IR Renewables Solar Covered Parking Program, we are still very much committed to providing tax equity solutions for more traditional renewable systems, such as CRE rooftop solar, or financing for a solar array leveraging our incredibly popular Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program. Following the passage of the IRA, C-PACE is a slam dunk for non-profit real estate owners because they can now easily obtain the 30% tax credit via direct check payment from the IRS. Further, non-profits can also add in other energy efficiency improvements to their renewable projects, and utilize C-PACE financing to save even more on energy and long-term capital expenditure costs.  

Long story short, IR Renewables intends to continue playing in the CRE sandbox by providing direct solutions that go beyond just energy savings, and deliver much greater impacts to Net Operating Income and Internal Rate of Return!  

If you are interested in learning more about our Solar Covered Parking Program and/or our other renewable financing offerings, please do not hesitate to contact us.