See EIG’s Interactive Map Highlighting Innovative Opportunity Zone Activity
A Collection of OZ Investments and Initiatives
Opportunity Zones is supporting investment in a wide range of activities in communities of every size across the country.
The handful of examples provided below demonstrate how local leaders are leveraging Opportunity Zones to strengthen their communities. Simply click on the different themes to expand the details and explore the relevant projects.
Bozeman, MT: The Apartments at Enterprise, offered to individuals and families earning between 65 percent and 85 percent of area median income (AMI), provide affordable housing options for public safety officials, nurses, teachers and others as the city works to address its housing shortage amid a growing workforce.
Cleveland, OH: Local developers Sustainable Community Associates leveraged the OZ tax incentive to lower rent prices for 60 percent of the apartments at The Tappan, which will be available to “the missing middle,” or residents making between 80 and 120 percent of AMI. In addition to workforce housing, The Tappan provides retail space on the ground floor for a local startup bakery, Leavened.
Los Angeles, CA: Silicon Valley Bank and the National Equity Fund, a non-profit, tax credit syndicator, have committed $110 million to expand affordable housing in Los Angeles and the Bay Area using Opportunity Zone incentives. The investment will help create housing for some of California’s most vulnerable residents, including those experiencing homelessness and local farm workers.
Schenectady, NY: Hudson Partners Development and Enterprise Community Partners are leveraging Opportunity Zones investment to construct a four-building, 88-unit workforce housing apartment complex, over half of which is targeted at area residents earning less than 80 percent of median area income.
Orlando, FL: The mix of long-term affordable and market-rate apartments at Parramore Oaks furthers the community’s goal of increasing the supply of affordable and market-rate homes in order to prevent displacement.
Tacoma, WA: KOZ on MLK delivered a community-driven project to Washington’s Hilltop community in Tacoma. New homes and neighborhood-oriented commercial space are affordable to those earning 79 percent or less of the area median income.
Chicago, IL: RiseKit, a startup technology company that connects underrepresented job seekers to a broad network of employment opportunities, received an investment to support its expansion during the pandemic.
Kansas City, MO: Kansas City-based Community Development Financial Institution, AltCap, formed an affiliate called Equity2 to invest in community-oriented businesses and real estate that create high-quality jobs and have ownership structures that allow employees to share in wealth creation.
Los Angeles, CA: In addition to affordable and workforce housing, Los Angeles-based SoLa Impact recently announced the opening of “The Beehive,” a business campus for Opportunity Zone companies where minority and women-owned businesses can work and network with other entrepreneurs and investors on the four-acre campus in South Los Angeles.
Montrose, CO: Proximity, a small business that provides software and curriculum for the coworking industry and has a global network of more than 400 coworking spaces, has received multiple Opportunity Zones investments to enable its growth.
Durango, CO: Aerospace startup Agile Space Industries (Agile) designs, manufactures, and tests integrated aerospace propulsion systems. According to Agile, securing Opportunity Zones financing has been foundational to its accelerated growth in 2020 despite the impact of the pandemic, and they expect to double its staff over the next six months and grow to 65 employees in 2021.
Braddock, PA: Fifth Season, a solar-powered, fully-automated, vertical farming operation, is expanding access to fresh food in a food desert and creating a bridge to jobs for a community that experienced an 80 percent population loss due to the contraction of the steel industry.
Indianapolis, IN: Greenwave Opportunity Fund launched a $250 million fund to invest in and develop clean energy projects that improve energy resiliency through real estate and water applications.
Norfolk, VA: Norfolk Solar Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund is utilizing Power Purchase Agreements to provide free solar panel installations to businesses and nonprofits. Opportunity Zones residents will be trained and hired to work on the installations.
Springfield, VT: CORI Innovation Fund’s investment in Voi, Inc. will expand AI-driven digital technology to provide behavioral healthcare solutions. Applications will help to improve mental health outcomes in the U.S by detecting and caring for those at risk of suicide.
Bristol, VA: An Opportunity Fund led a $3 million capital raise for Micronic Technologies, a clean-tech start-up incubated at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise Micronic, which developed an innovative water purification technology that cleans industrial wastewater cheaper and more efficiently than other available systems, is at the forefront of America’s energy transition. The company is also seen as a possible model for future development.
Baltimore, MD: Blueprint Local’s Opportunity Zones investment will support the modernization of Penn Station in conjunction with a $90 million upgrade project funded by Amtrak.
Birmingham, AL: A committed group of local investors joined together to save the historic Woodlawn Theater, which will be transformed into a new live music venue and provide a new home for the Mason Music Foundation, a non-profit that provides scholarships to low-income families for music lessons.
Cincinnati, OH: A $51 million infill development combined Opportunity Zones financing with New Markets Tax Credits, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, state and federal Historic Tax Credits, and city programs to revitalize 16 historic buildings and build four more.
Newark, NJ: The vacant historic St. Michael’s hospital will be transformed into a center for arts education and creative co-living, serving up to 500 low- and moderate-income children annually and providing options for affordable housing and affordable space for non-profit organizations.
Washington, DC: Two local minority-owned businesses, The Menkiti Group and Enlightened Inc, partnered to develop a catalytic center of commerce on the Main Street corridor in the heart of historic Anacostia, and demonstrated how the public and private sectors can work together to drive economic opportunity and growth.
Albert Lea, MN: CapZone and 18 Squared have partnered to launch an Opportunity Fund to invest in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinics and hospitals. The fund’s first investment in a Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Albert Lea expanded primary care and mental health services for local veterans.
Erie, PA: Erie’s Flagship City Food Hall will expand food access in a food desert, and is the centerpiece of the city’s efforts to attract private investment to one of the nation’s poorest zip codes. The food hall and accompanying market will also create opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs and restaurateurs.
Hartland, VT: CORI Innovation Fund is supporting Arsana Health’s growth strategy as the technology company expands the production of software and hardware solutions for post-acute healthcare providers, such as skilled nursing facilities and assisted living homes.
Pittsburgh & Altoona, PA: The Arctaris Southwestern Pennsylvania Opportunity Zone Program will invest in projects aimed at spurring economic development, workforce training, and job creation in Allegheny and Westmoreland’s 72 designated Opportunity Zones.
Missoula, MT: A new medical office building will house a gastroenterology clinic to help address Missoula’s unmet local demand for digestive medicine specialists. The clinic will also help recruit and retain doctors.
Brookville, IN: After selling their family-owned business, Mick and Jenny Wilz made Opportunity Zones investments in their hometown, encouraging others in the small town of 3,000 residents to do the same. Investments were made to close the financing stack on a transformative mixed-use, mixed-income development along Main Street, prevent the town’s local newspaper from going out of business, and build the town’s only hotel.
Craig, CO: Four Points Funding transformed the 5,000 square foot Boy-Ko building into a food hall that is designed to be an incubator for local food entrepreneurs, co-working space, a conference center available to the community, and coffeehouse. The locally-owned Inclusion Coffeehouse will provide employment and on-the-job training for young adults with disabilities.
Fort Worth, TX: A local crowdfunding platform for agriculture launched the Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund to help farmers in rural Opportunity Zones maintain jobs and grow their local economies.
Brigham City, Utah: Thanks to Opportunity Zones investment, the owners of Brigham’s historic Union Block building were able to turn the long-vacant two-story brick structure, which has housed everything from a saloon and produce company in the 1890s to an arcade and J.C. Penny’s in the 1980s and ‘90s, into a much-desired community space. Now, Union Block is a usable venue for events and activities in Brigham—breathing new life into the city’s downtown area.
Bethlehem, PA: Opportunity Zones equity was paired with Historic Tax Credits to support the transformation of an underutilized 125-year-old building on Lehigh University’s campus into 30 apartments and new retail space, contributing to South Bethlehem’s renewal.
Coatesville, PA: The Coatesville Impact Fund, developed by Activated Capital,will invest up to $25 million to support single- and multi-family housing, small commercial properties, and local businesses that align with the mission of the fund.
Memphis, TN: The City of Memphis, University of Memphis, Downtown Memphis Commission, and Start Co. have partnered on Union Row, a project comprising 30 digitally connected-buildings and 115,000 square feet of office space for the innovation and technology sectors. The initiative includes a commitment to provide $15 million in venture capital, as well as laptops, internet, and training to 1,000 families in South City.
Tuscaloosa, AL: Stillman College received an investment from Renaissance Equity Partners’ HBCU Opportunity Fund to build a teaching hotel on campus in addition to mixed-use residential and commercial property for faculty, graduate students, and others. The properties will be sold back to Stillman College for its long-term use at the end of the investment holding period.
You can also explore EIG’s OZ Activity Map to view more examples of investments, funds, and initiatives that highlight the broad geographic reach and deep social impact of Opportunity Zones.