New York legislators have moved forward in their 2021 budget process to limit some of the state Opportunity Zone benefits that had previously applied in the state. If the budget is approved, and the provisions become operative, New York will no longer offer some of the state tax benefits to real estate investors funding Opportunity Zone projects in New York. Under the 2021 budget proposal, the New York Deferral Benefit and the New York Reduction Benefits at the New York level would no longer be applicable.

The latest Opportunity Zone Outlook from Jill Homan of Javelin 19 Investments includes insights on projects in Baltimore, Atlanta, Seattle, and Puerto Rico. Learn more from Jill during CDFA's Intro Opportunity Zones Finance WebCourse on April 28-29 where she will be providing education about leveraging development finance tools with OZ investment.

CDFA member, the Economic Innovation Group, hosted a webinar to discuss strategies for partnering with local governments, community groups, and non-profit organizations in order to achieve a financial and social return on Opportunity Zones (OZ) investments. Guest speakers made the business case for engaging local leaders in OZ transactions, and provided examples of how OZ financing is being leveraged to build local wealth, help reduce recidivism, develop affordable homes, expand office space for non-profit organizations and government agencies, deliver neighborhood-serving retail, and more.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will publish in Wednesday's Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking for the opportunity zones (OZ) incentive that provides flexibility in the 24-month extension of the working capital safe harbor in the case of federally declared disaster areas.

Yard 56 in Baltimore is one of the city's first Opportunity Zones investments. The $77 million first phase of the project includes a new grocery store and retail. Financed with New Market Tax Credits, property tax credits as part of an Enterprise Zone, and Opportunity Zones investment from Prudential Financial. The second phase will include apartments and a medical office building, representing another $80 to $100 million investment.

EIG writes as a broad coalition of stakeholders to make recommendations to the Biden administration to improve and strengthen the Opportunity Zones incentive, which provides tax benefits for qualifying investments in low-income communities. With such improvements, the OZ incentive will be well-positioned to play a key role in a "build back better" agenda that supports historically underserved communities.

>>> VIEW THE OPPORTUNITY ZONES RESOURCE CENTER   

During this installment of the CDFA Food Systems Finance Webinar Series, we explored how investing in food-centered redevelopment can restore local food systems infrastructure, catalyze additional neighborhood development, and protect healthy, sustainable communities.

Opportunity Zones are a powerful way to encourage revitalization in economically distressed communities. Redevelopment of current or former Superfund sites may qualify for Opportunity Zone tax benefits. View this EPA fact sheet for more information.

There are over 300 Superfund National Priorities List sites and thousands of Superfund removal sites located in or partially in Opportunity Zones. This webinar discussed Opportunity Zone tax benefits in the context of redeveloping Superfund sites and other types of contaminated properties and how communities, local governments, and developers can utilize these benefits.

>>> EXPLORE ONLINE RESOURCE DATABASE