PACE financing allows commercial buildings to increase energy efficiency

City program has approved $10.8 million in projects since 2014

Brian Belli packed up his 40,000-square-foot antique mall at 1039 S. Second St. last fall and moved to a larger, older building in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood, changing his store’s name to Antiques on Pierce.

The change has been good, Belli said. At 71,118 square feet, the new store at 1512 W. Pierce St., is much larger and the move still allowed him to stay in the neighborhood.

But with a 104-year-old boiler being held together by wire and bubblegum, Belli had to make some repairs.

“Between the loan for renovations and the purchase price on the building, we were pretty close to the max on what we could borrow,” Belli said.

He called the City of Milwaukee, which turned him on to PACE, a financing option to encourage building owners to reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Belli qualified for a $220,000 loan from PACE, which he used to pay for a new HVAC system for his building.

“We are conservative with borrowing and don’t want to extend ourselves too far,” Belli said. “PACE was good at keeping us within our comfort level. Without them, we would have been running on that old boiler.”

In 2009 and 2011, the state Legislature passed two bills allowing municipalities to offer the PACE program, which stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy, to commercial property owners.

In July 2013, the City of Milwaukee passed a resolution authorizing PACE. A handful of other Wisconsin municipalities have passed similar resolutions....

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Ken Notes: We need to work with all Wisconsin communities to get programs started.