Dealmaker: Pace Loan Group Secures $36M for New Jersey Water Park

(Illustration courtesy of Pace Loan Group)

Pace Loan Group, Minneapolis, secured a $45.5 million Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy loan to recapitalize Island Waterpark at Showboat in Atlantic City, N.J.

The financing represents New Jersey’s first C-PACE loan.

Island Waterpark at Showboat, a 120,000-square-foot water park and entertainment center, secures the loan.

The loan will recapitalize the construction loan used to build the park, which includes 10 waterslides, a multi-level children’s play structure, a lazy river, four restaurants and three bars. The waterpark, which opened in June 2023, is adjacent to the Showboat resort. Both are owned by Bart Blatstein, a Philadelphia investor, developer and owner of Tower Investments Inc.

“This loan closed in less than two months, helping us meet our business goals going into 2026,” Blatstein noted. He has owned the Showboat Resort since 2016 and received approval in 2020 to convert an adjacent surface parking lot into the Island Indoor Waterpark. Construction of the waterpark began in 2022 after the site was converted from a casino that operated until 2014.

“Being able to retroactively pay down the construction debt with C-PACE provides efficient long-term, permanent financing,” said Jerry Ellis, managing director/head of loan structuring with PACE Loan Group. “With the flexibility of C-PACE, we expect to see significant interest from New Jersey developers.”

The C-PACE proceeds were used to finance energy conservation and renewable energy measures retroactively. Qualifying projects included the building envelope, LED interior lighting, high-efficiency natural gas pool heaters and the HVAC system.

New Jersey approved the C-PACE program in October 2024 and started taking applications on July 30, 2025. It is administered by the Garden State C-PACE Program, a program of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.