DARIEN, CONN.—Nuveen Green Capital, a leader in sustainable commercial real estate financing solutions, announced that it has provided over $7M in C-PACE financing for the adaptive reuse of the recently-opened Hotel Marcel in New Haven, Conn. Hotel Marcel, which is part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton, is the first anticipated net-zero hotel and Passive House-certified hotel in the United States. The hotel utilized C-PACE to finance a large-scale solar array that will allow the property to generate its own electricity for lighting, heating, cooling and hot water for its common areas, restaurant, laundry, meeting rooms, and 165 guestrooms and suites. C-PACE financing was also used for roofing, windows, insulation, and lighting.
The building, which originally opened in 1970, is an icon of brutalist architecture from Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer and is listed on the Connecticut Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. The property was, however, left vacant for nearly 20 years until it was purchased by architecture firm Becker + Becker in December of 2019, who decided to convert it into a hotel that would embrace the architectural legacy of the building, as well as sustainability.
Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) is a financing mechanism that provides commercial property owners access to low-cost, long-term, fixed-rate capital for energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy improvements that are paid back over a 20+ year term through a special property assessment.
Hotel Marcel will operate without the use of fossil fuels, resulting in zero carbon emissions. The property is also expected to be the first Passive House-certified hotel in the country, meeting the standard of an ultra-low energy building that requires little energy for heating or cooling, and will use 80 percent less energy than a typical hotel in the United States. It will also be one of just a handful of LEED Platinum-certified hotels in the country.
Energy Storage Using On-site Batteries
The hotel’s solar array, with more than 1,000 panels—both on the roof of the building and on canopies installed in the parking lot—will produce about 550,000 kilowatt hours of energy a year, which will be stored in batteries on-site.
“This is such an exciting project for us and one we are very proud to be a part of. Hotel Marcel is a perfect case study on how C-PACE financing can help buildings accomplish extraordinary sustainability achievements while also reducing operating expenses and helping improve the local community and economy,” said Jessica Bailey, President and CEO of Nuveen Green Capital.
“As the state’s administrator for C-PACE, we are proud that this unique financing tool has been used for this first-of-its-kind project,” said Mackey Dykes, Vice President of Financing Programs, Connecticut Green Bank. “This iconic building now serves as a model for other property owners across the country on the advantages and opportunities that energy efficient design and renewables can create. It’s also an example of the benefits of sustainability and battery energy storage to hotel guests and community residents.”
“The identity of this hotel is really built around sustainability, and C-PACE financing has been instrumental in enhancing the net-zero strategy as well as the bottom line for Hotel Marcel. We are strongly committed to not using any fossil fuels, instead relying on solar, 100 percent electrification and energy efficiency measures. C-PACE financing helped to make this a financially beneficial goal,” said Bruce Redman Becker, FAIA, President of Becker + Becker.
