Rhode Island bank funds improvements for Providence Marriott

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank has closed a $2.5 million loan with the Providence Marriott Downtown in Rhode Island.

Through the Bank’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program, the hotel installed a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system along with new controls and LED lighting throughout the facility. The comprehensive upgrades will reduce the hotel’s annual energy expense by almost 40 percent when compared to its current usage.

“RI C-PACE financing has helped 26 buildings make upgrades and offset their energy costs,” said Jeffrey R. Diehl, CEO of Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank. “The Providence Marriott project is one of the C-PACE program’s largest loans to-date.”

The energy efficiency upgrades will offset the facility’s energy consumption. Over the 18-year financing  term, the hotel is expected to reduce its carbon footprint by 12,945 metric carbon tons, a figure equivalent to the annual energy output of 1,500 Rhode Island homes. 

“This work is part of our broader ‘reimagination’ of the hotel, bringing it to the latest Marriott standards,” said Richard Jabara, CEO of Meyer Jabara Hotels. “The associated environmental benefits of the PACE funded improvements are also very important to us and to our many valued individual and corporate guests. We are grateful for the assistance provided by the Infrastructure Bank, Thompson Partners, our consultant that developed the PACE project and secured third-party financing, Greenworks Lending that provided the funding and National Grid for providing technical assistance and incentive funds.”

The Providence Marriott Downtown is a full-service hotel that opened in 1975. The hotel has 354 guestrooms, meeting space, a ballroom, an on-site salon and spa and an indoor and outdoor pool with a pool-side bar. The hotel is also planning to open a new restaurant.

C-PACE helps commercial and industrial property owners lower their energy costs through financing for energy efficiency upgrades and the installation of renewable energy systems. Projects eligible for C-PACE financing include efficiency measures such as lighting, insulation, heating and cooling systems, and renewable energy projects in addition to other related construction projects.