How do financial incentives offered by states influence fiscal health? Researchers at North Carolina State University tallied all incentives offered by 32 states from 1990 to 2015, effectively covering 90 percent of incentives nationally. Most of the programs they looked at were linked with worse overall fiscal health for the jurisdiction that enacted them.

Construction work is underway at the $5.5 billion, 235-acre Port Covington waterfront redevelopment project in Baltimore, Maryland. The project is a public-private partnership between the city of Baltimore and Port Covington developers, and will be the beneficiary of bond financing to help pay for an estimated $1.4 billion of infrastructure. 

Chart House Energy is using Opportunity Zones to help hire and train workers in low-income communities. Chart House is also working across Michigan to develop solar projects that capture the tax benefits from Opportunity Zones in an effort to offer lower cost power. In an Ypsilanti project, the for-profit entity owns the system and provides discounted power to the host facilities.

An $80 million expansion plan was unveiled Wednesday for South Bend's Century Center. The proposed work on the Century Center itself would cost about $45 million. Suggested revenue sources include tax incremental financing, new markets tax credits, the innkeepers tax, Indiana opportunity zone funding, Section 108 loan guarantees, and a food and beverage tax.

Food halls — upscale relatives of the humble food court — have become common in and near Chicago's downtown, but not on the Far South Side. So a first-of-its kind project - the One Eleven Food Hall - in Pullman bears watching. The project was financed in part through $4.5 million in New Markets Tax Credits, $500,000 from TIF, and various microloans.

Riverside-based NorthPoint Development seeks approval from the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., to build a $125 million logistics park at the northern intersection of Interstate 70 and the Turner Diagonal. The project would be financed through a variety of sources, including a 20-year, 100 percent property tax abatement through industrial revenue bonds.

Senators Tim Scott (R-SC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Todd Young (R-IN) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) have announced legislation that would require investors to provide the Department of Treasury with important data so that it can measure the social impact being made around the country as a result of Opportunity Zones.

According to Columbia, SC Mayor Steve Benjamin, the challenge with public-private partnerships is less about persuading the private sector to invest in infrastructure and more about getting investors to look outside of metro areas for potential projects. Mid-size and smaller cities can generate the cash flow needed to support P3s.

Looking to take advantage of low interest rates, Rhode Island's Senate approved up to $200 million in Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle bonds to fund the reconstruction of the viaduct that carries Interstate 95 north through downtown Providence.

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Webcast Series, expert speakers will provide an in-depth overview on the approaches currently being used by cities, counties and states across the U.S. to attract mega projects.

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