PACE bonds to aid local synagogue

Project will fund energy efficiency upgrades at Oakwood facility.

The Beth Abraham Synagogue in Oakwood could be a step closer to lower energy costs after the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority on Tuesday approved energy bonds for the property.

The board voted unanimously to approve the issuance of $1.355 million in taxable Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds within the Southwest Ohio Regional Bond Fund program.

In a PACE project, the cost of new energy equipment is repaid for a period of time via an assessment added to a property’s tax bill.

In this case, the project will fund key energy efficiency improvements, such as a new heating-ventilation and air-conditioning system, LED lighting, boilers, automation controls, new electrical service and engineering changes and more.

Currently, the synagogue community bears utility costs of some $137,000 a year on average, Mike Novakov, vice president of DiPerna Advisors, told the Port Authority board. The synagogue today is on a campus-wide utility system connecting four separate buildings, most of them medical office buildings.

“They’re responsible for 35 percent of utilities and electric costs, regardless of what they use — and they only use the facility two or three times a week,” Novakov said of Beth Abraham.

This project is basically getting the property on an independent utility and electrical system, he said. He expects a net savings for the property of about $24,000.

“Right off the bat for them, it’s a good deal just based on utility savings,” Novakov said.

The synagogue, covering about 48,000 square feet, is at 305 Sugar Camp Circle in a building NCR built in the early 1970s, said Jerry Brunswick, executive director of the Port Authority.

“It’s significant savings,” Brunswick said. “It’s a great location, as you know.”

Beth Abraham purchased the building in 2008 for about $2 million, investing about $4.5 million in renovations, Novakov said.

The city of Oakwood would have to approve the project, but Novakov said he expects no problems in that regard.

PACE is a tool the Port Authority has offered Dayton property owners in the past, including the cluster of Front Street buildings in 2017.