Bayview PACE has provided the $137 million in C-PACE funding for the development of the 502-key, $420 million Westin Cocoa Beach Resort & Spa in Cocoa Beach, Fla. The transaction is the largest C-PACE deal ever in Florida and the third largest in the U.S. hospitality sector, according to Bayview.
Now under construction with a planned opening in early 2027, the property is the fourth hospitality project in Brevard County by Coral Gables, Fla.-based developer Driftwood Capital.
At a recent groundbreaking, Driftwood CEO Carlos Rodriguez Sr. said the resort will help meet demand from the Space Coast’s new residents, vacationers and business users from growing aerospace and defense companies and Port Canaveral, one of the world's busiest cruise ports. Marriott officials in attendance cited the firm’s strong commitment to the project, and heralded its significance in filling a 160-mile-long gap of Marriott beachfront resorts from Daytona Beach to Hutchinson Island.
“We are thrilled to support a tier-1 hospitality sponsor in Driftwood and to facilitate the development of what will be an iconic project in an underserved market. We provided a bespoke and innovative C-PACE financing solution that resulted in an efficient cost of capital and met the sponsor’s goals,” A.K Prabhakar, SVP of commercial originations said in a statement.
"As C-PACE continues to become a standard finance tool, we anticipate even more large transactions like this because Bayview is one of the few PACE lenders with the ability to fully fund major projects from our own balance sheet,” said VP of Bayview PACE, Jason Clouet.
Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy financing has been approved through legislation in 40 states, gaining popularity among real estate owners and the financial institutions looking to serve them.