PACE Loan Group plays growing role in getting CRE deals done

After spending 10 years as a lender in New York City, Rafi Golberstein saw an opportunity to leverage a lesser-known financing tool in Minnesota aimed at boosting clean energy in real estate.

It was 2017 when Golberstein founded PACE Loan Group, a Minneapolis-based lender using state financing tool called Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, or C-PACE. At the time, this type of financing had only become established seven years prior.

Now, C-PACE, also referred to as just PACE, is playing a unique role in the current commercial real estate landscape, where institutional investors have been skittish. That's where lenders like PACE Loan Group can fill the financing gap for a project that otherwise might not have been able to pencil out.