Commercial Property Executive
By Therese Fitzgerald

Skeptics of the Opportunity Zone program claim few deals are being done in the 8,700 designated census tracts beyond the “low-hanging-fruit” that was already in investors' pipelines. The benefits that allow investors to reduce or potentially eliminate their capital gains tax liabilities, they say, are not really going to investors engaged in the deliberate community renewal that is supposed to be the program's mission. But at the Connect Opportunity Zone conference in New York City last week, it was clear that community-minded investment is underway in these districts.

Take, for example, TPP Capital Management's plan for a blighted five-block area with 400 vacant lots surrounding Temple University's life sciences campus in Philadelphia. TPP's design includes workforce housing, senior housing, co-living and a medical clinic. TPP is also investing in Opportunity Zone businesses, including a minority-owned juice bar and bottling company and an indoor community farm. It will also host a satellite office for the local community college and an optometry school. Read more.