Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
New Hampshire has completed its first C-PACE transaction, providing $23.2 million of long-term financing for The Brickyard in Lebanon alongside a $31.5 million senior construction loan. The 26-acre development is ultimately planned for 51 for-sale townhomes and 423 rental apartments.
New Hampshire has closed its first commercial property assessed clean energy financing, putting $23.2 million of long-term C-PACE capital behind a residential development that is ultimately planned to deliver 474 homes in Lebanon.
Nuveen Green Capital announced Sept. 21 that the financing for The Brickyard was completed through the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority’s newly launched C-PACER program. The C-PACE financing closed alongside a $31.5 million senior construction loan from Silver Heights Capital, creating a $55 million financing package arranged by Kay Finance.
The transaction is notable beyond its size. It marks the first completed C-PACE deal in New Hampshire, opening another financing channel for developers seeking to fund qualifying energy, water and resilience improvements as conventional construction capital remains expensive.
A housing project with two forms of capital
BRX Development is developing The Brickyard on a 26-acre site at 174 Hanover Street in Lebanon, the former Densmore Brickyard. The first phase calls for 51 three-bedroom for-sale townhome condominiums and a 42-unit Class A rental building known as the Goff House.
Nuveen Green Capital said the C-PACE structure is split into two assessments: $12.2 million supporting the townhomes and $11 million supporting the Goff House. Both carry 30-year terms. The proceeds are intended for energy and water efficiency measures and flood and stormwater-management improvements.
After the first phase and retirement of the townhome assessment from condominium sale proceeds, the sponsor intends to add another 381 rental apartments. At full buildout, the site is expected to contain 51 townhomes and 423 rental apartments across five mid-rise buildings.
BRX’s own project materials list the Brickyard townhomes for an estimated 2028 completion.
Why C-PACE matters to housing finance
C-PACE financing is repaid through a property assessment and is generally tied to qualifying building improvements. For developers, the attraction can be long-duration capital that sits alongside senior construction debt and reduces the amount of higher-cost equity needed in the capital stack.
That matters in the current development environment. Higher benchmark rates, tighter bank underwriting and elevated construction costs have made many residential projects harder to capitalize, even where housing demand is strong.
Nuveen Green Capital said the Brickyard assessments are fixed-rate and non-recourse. The company described the structure as a way to reduce the sponsor’s blended cost of capital and preserve equity for later phases. Those are company characterizations; the announcement did not disclose the C-PACE coupon, senior-loan rate or overall project cost.
The deal also gives New Hampshire’s new program its first live test. Rather than a theoretical financing tool, C-PACE is now part of the capital stack on an active housing development combining ownership and rental units.
For housing and commercial real estate professionals, the larger question is whether the first closing leads to a broader pipeline. If developers and senior lenders become comfortable using the structure, C-PACE could become another source of gap capital for projects facing today’s more demanding construction-finance market.
