A 640-acre wellness resort under construction about 90 miles west of Washington, D.C., has received the largest clean energy financing deal in Virginia history.
The Shenandoah Nature Resort near Shenandoah National Park secured a $65 million loan from Nuveen Green Capital to fund energy-efficiency upgrades. The financing was provided through a program known as Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, or C-PACE, said the nonprofit Virginia PACE Authority that administers the statewide initiative.
The money is expected to be used for exterior LED lighting, low-flow plumbing, a roof upgrade and energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems to reduce carbon emissions. The project is also expected to use geothermal wells that access steam or hot water from underground as a source of energy.
Situated at 1815 Turkey Run Road in Star Tannery, Virginia, the nearly $200 million project is scheduled to open in January 2028, the project’s founder, Mike Marburg of Wellmore Partners, told CoStar News. It’s slated to have 120 guest rooms and a full suite of spa and wellness amenities across more than a dozen single or two-story buildings, he added.
C-PACE enables commercial property owners to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation and resiliency improvements in a fixed-rate assessment paid through taxes rather than the borrower’s balance sheet. Financing is often priced at about the 10-year Treasury rate plus 3%, with repayment spanning up to 30 years and transferring in a property sale, eliminating refinancing risk for lenders and cutting upfront costs for owners.
The resort, designed to offer guests a reprieve from their hectic day-to-day lives, is expected to have a limited impact on the larger piece of property, Marburg stressed, with tree clearing affecting only about 4% of the land. The property previously operated as a tree farm.
“We will co-create itineraries with individuals and groups from 40-plus daily activities, a groundbreaking spa and hydrotherapy facility with 20 treatment rooms, and a world class ‘food-as-medicine’ experience (including a teaching kitchen), among many other project features,” Marburg said via email. “Our purpose is to create a place where guests reconnect with themselves and nature, restore their wellbeing and relationships, and leave more resourced than when they arrive.”
The project’s founders and other community members met at the site in March for an activation event. An invitation-only preview of 20 rooms is scheduled for January. Amenities are expected to include an aquatics center, restaurants featuring locally sourced cuisine, and meeting, fitness and yoga facilities.
Other projects utilizing C-PACE in Virginia include the redevelopment of the former Dominion Energy tower in Richmond, which is being transformed into a hotel and apartments. Nuveen provided $38 million to fund that conversion.
By utilizing C-PACE to fund the Shenandoah Nature Resort, “the Sponsor will realize significant savings while aiding in job creation by investing in sustainable construction,” said Jonathan Kloos, Nuveen Green Capital’s senior director of lender partnerships and new products, in a statement.
In addition to Kloos, Irwin Tejeda and Colleen Chou with Nuveen worked on the Shenandoah project. Olson Kundig, Marlon Blackwell Architects, interior designer Clodagh and landscape architect Coen and Partners are also involved in the development.
