2021 CAIP Successes
ALTERRA RETURNS TO MAKE ENERGY EFFICIENT UPGRADES TO ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT PROPERTIES
COLUMBUS (DELAWARE COUNTY)
DUBLIN (FRANKLIN COUNTY)
Brad Kitchen, president of Alterra Real Estate Advisors, has been working to help his clients maximize their return on investments, and because of OAQDA, he’s made significant upgrades to three large commercial properties around central Ohio over the last two years.
“We were introduced to OAQDA by our PACE vendor, Metropolitan. The nice thing about it (OAQDA), with the sales tax incentives and property tax abatements, it really makes projects feasible and affordable to make improvements that we want to make to the buildings.”
– Brad Kitchen, president, Alterra Real Estate Advisors
The Authority approved Alterra for up to $1.8 million in total bond financing to help develop two properties: the Orion office building located near Polaris in Columbus, and Stoneridge, a medical services office building in Dublin. Alterra brought these two properties to OAQDA after having a great experience with the program previously in 2020 when it received funding to make energy efficient upgrades to its 3 Easton Oval building.
“We made a number of improvements to the Orion building including new HVAC and controls to make them more energy efficient, ionization to clean the air, updated hands-free controls in the restrooms, added solar panels and installed LED lighting throughout the building,” said Kitchen. “These updates will help to attract and retain tenants.”
According to Kitchen, making upgrades utilizing OAQDA financing tools has helped their investors save money, and it’s also been beneficial for the tenants of the buildings.
“For the Stoneridge property, the building was 20 plus years old, so we had old HVAC units that were requiring extensive repair and replacement,” he said. “Being able to upgrade the units reduces or eliminates repair costs while also allowing us to be more energy efficient. I think seeing the overall reduction in expenses is a nice factor for our tenants.”
When it comes to working with OAQDA for financing, Kitchen says it’s a breeze.
“They understand the process and they were great at pushing the process forward and keeping it moving, so they were really easy to work with.”
– Brad Kitchen, president, Alterra Real Estate Advisors
Article written by: OAQDA (2021 Annual Report; 50th Anniversary Edition)