Denver-based Echelon Energy recently announced a significant minority growth investment by Union Main Group. Echelon, previously known as Navitas Equity Solutions, partners with commercial real estate owners to reduce the electricity and water consumption, cutting owners’ monthly utilities expenses and climate footprint.
“Anecdotes of ESG accomplishments are insufficient. With buildings accounting for approximately 40% of global greenhouse emissions, everyone – from limited partners, to lenders, to tenants, to government officials, to our oldest and youngest neighbors – is demanding quantifiable and demonstrated sustainability metrics from every single building owner,” said Richard Randall, co-founder and CEO of Echelon. “Jason and I founded Echelon Energy after we deployed this strategy within Cardinal Group’s portfolio and witnessed first-hand the owner demand for a “one-stop-shop” that identifies the right technologies for each building and its tenants, manages the installation seamlessly, and after the installation actively tracks and manages the ongoing utilities usage.”
Echelon is a technology-enabled service provider to commercial real estate owners that designs and manages custom infrastructure retrofits to reduce utilities consumption, and then actively monitors the utilities consumption after implementation. The Company partners with institutional private equity investors, REITs, corporations, commercial syndicators and private owners across the United States and focuses on multifamily rentals, student housing, hotels, commercial retail, industrial and commercial office. Since Echelon’s founding in 2020, it has completed over 50 projects in 20 states on behalf of 15 clients.
“What we are seeing today is that clients not only want us working on a specific property or even property type – they want us to execute the strategy across their entire portfolio – including properties and portfolios they are looking to acquire,” said Jason Kosena, co-founder and president of Echelon. “The capital and operational expertise of Union Main Group will help us grow with our clients and continue to service them with excellence.”
“Richard and Jason came to us with an impressive set of client relationships and a proven track record of success deploying these utilities retrofits at Cardinal Group,” said Adam Hanover, CEO of Union Main Group and chairman of the Board of Directors for Echelon. “The Company offers a meaningful value proposition for real estate owners to save money and reduce their climate footprint. The Company’s growth is a credit to Richard and Jason’s high-touch client service and unique ability to translate disparate electrical and water technologies into a smartly designed, custom energy package that drives quantifiable results. We are proud to support Echelon in this next phase of growth.”