Even though it took the Treasury Department longer than expected to release all of the regulations applying to its innovative Opportunity Zones program, results are already being seen throughout Colorado.
According to sources, more than $1 billion in investments has so far been committed in just metro Denver itself.
Those investments include the construction of the $155 million, 10-story apartment building called North Wynkoop; and the $50 million, 380,000 square foot headquarters for the Karcher North America company.
Approved as part of the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Opportunity Zones program is designed to foster more investment and development in low-income neighborhoods.
By investing in such areas, the Opportunity Zones programs offer a series of tax incentives, including a deferral of capital gains taxes.
So far, the program is seeing the building of any number of commercial, industrial, and residential projects.
“This will hopefully incentivize private investment,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson recently remarked of the Opportunity Zones effort, adding that it could spur the development of grocery stores in neighborhoods lacking such offerings.
In Colorado, which now has 130 designated Opportunity Zones, the program is being additionally spurred by the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
Earlier this year, Governor Jared Polis, noting the work that went into documenting the information needed for the creation of the Opportunity Zones, remarked: “It’s vital that we continue to build on this momentum and collaborate with communities and investors to make these opportunities a reality to create good jobs.”
There are now more than 9,000 individual Opportunity Zones nationally.
The Treasury Department is predicting that those zones will see more than $100 billion in investment and construction in the months to come.
By Garry Boulard
