The federal Opportunity Zones program has drawn interest from investors around the country, and policy experts and fund managers expect a flood of capital to flow into the space as soon as the regulations are finalized.
The program, part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act President Donald Trump signed into law in December, gives large tax breaks to investors who place capital gains into funds that invest in opportunity zones, a set of largely low-income areas across the country. Local governments nominated their opportunity zone census tracts in April, and in recent months, several funds have been set up specifically targeting opportunity zones.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week predicted $100B of capital would be invested into opportunity zones. Develop founder Steve Glickman, the original architect of the Opportunity Zone policy, who launched a consulting firm last month to advise investors on the program, said he has spoken with hundreds of investors eager to deploy money into opportunity zones.
“We always knew this would be a larger incentive than any previous community investment program, but I think the actual market demand and interest is way higher than even I thought earlier this year,” said Glickman, who will speak Oct. 16 on Bisnow’s D.C. Opportunity Zones event. “There is a huge amount of appetite to take advantage of this program.”
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