Port Authority outlines PACE financing for Hyde Block redevelopment in Fostoria
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Summary
Dana Clark of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority presented the Better Buildings Northwest Ohio PACE program and said the Port will seek Fostoria's participation in an Energy Special Improvement District to provide property-assessed financing for the Hyde Block project on Main Street.
Dana Clark, PACE administrator with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, told the Fostoria City Council that the Better Buildings Northwest Ohio program can provide below-market, long-term financing for energy-efficiency and revitalization projects, including the proposed Hyde Block redevelopment on Main Street.
Clark described PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) as a financing mechanism that repays loans through a special assessment on the property tax bill. "The program I lead is called Better Buildings Northwest Ohio that further offers PACE financing. PACE is an acronym, stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy," Clark said, explaining that assessments appear on owners' January and July tax bills and are remitted through the county and the city back to the program.
The port's PACE work, Clark said, covers a broad range of projects: small repairs and efficiency upgrades up to major construction. She said projects the program has handled ranged from about $10,000 to $25 million, with many loans between $100,000 and $2 million, and that typical terms run about 15 years. Clark described several capital sources: a small revolving loan pool for loans under $100,000, bond issuances through a Toledo Port-managed Northwest Ohio bond fund for bundled or larger projects, and occasional single-issuance bonds to back large individual projects.
Clark said municipalities must participate administratively by establishing an Energy Special Improvement District (ECID) and allowing the special assessment to appear on the tax schedule. "Our ask is really this flow of the payment. You don't have any collection responsibility or anything like that. We are the lender, and we remain in that role of responsibility," she said, adding that the port would present three pieces of draft legislation when a project nears closing: one establishing the city's ECID participation, one authorizing the levy on the tax bill for repayment, and one formalizing the loan-repayment agreement.
Council members asked procedural and financial questions about the program's mechanics, capital sources and the port's role; Clark said she would return with project-specific legislation when the Hyde Block transaction is ready and offered to meet with staff in the interim. The council did not take any formal action at this meeting beyond hearing the presentation.
