The Fairfax County Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy and Resiliency (C-PACE) program allows commercial building owners to make substantial sustainability and resiliency improvements to their buildings with little or no up-front cost. All commercial properties, excluding condos and multifamily residential with five units or fewer, are eligible for this program.
C-PACE is a financing tool designed to provide long-term private funding to building owners for energy-saving and water-saving projects within commercial properties. The private loans are repaid via a special assessment. This lending model enables building owners to undertake large-scale projects and improvements with minimal initial capital outlays, preserving cash flow and producing near-term operational savings.
The C-PACE program in Fairfax County is the first program in Virginia to include resiliency improvements to buildings. Qualifying improvements would address risks due to flooding, high winds or extreme temperatures. Any proposed resiliency project will be independently verified by a professional engineer before financing is approved.
Fairfax County is not involved in lending or in guaranteeing the collection of funds for this program, but does levy a lien on each property and enforces the C-PACE assessment. The program is administered by the Virginia PACE Authority (VPA), on behalf of Fairfax County. More information on the program can be found on the VPA website. Applications may be submitted via VPA's online portal.
