Investments and Initiatives From Across the Country

Bozeman, MT: Apartments at Enterprise are expected to be offered at 66 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) to 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 tax incentive to lower rent prices for 60 percent of the apartments at The Tappan. In addition to workforce housing, The Tappan will provide retail space on the ground floor for a local startup bakery.

Detroit, MI: Greatwater Capital successfully raised capital and closed its Opportunity Fund amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will expand the supply of workforce housing in city neighborhoods that have not seen new investment in decades. 

Flagstaff, AZ: AspireFund has jumpstarted new development and expanded affordable opportunities for homeownership just 15 minutes south of Flagstaff in the Kachina Village neighborhood. 

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. 

Chicago, IL: 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 real estate and businesses 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 is developing “The Beehive,”a business campus for Opportunity Zone companies that will allow minority and women-owned businesses to 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 in its current round of fundraising. 

Mesa, AZ: Caliber made an Opportunity Zones investment in Launch Pad’s Series A funding round to support the expansion of co-working spaces in the Southwest. Launch Pad is now slated to open its first Arizona location at a Caliber-owned property that anchors downtown revitalization plans in Mesa.

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 have 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.

Braddock, PA: 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 Wise. “It’s a DeepTech company, led by a woman, emerging from a tiny university on the front lines of one of the biggest economic transformations in the United States, as Appalachia and the country’s energy infrastructure move away from coal.”

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 an Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Albert Lea will expand 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 the nation’s poorest zip code. The food hall and accompanying market will also create opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs like caterer and chef Lisa Heidelberg. 

Hartland, VT: CORI Innovation Fund is supporting Arsana Health’s growth strategy as the technology company expands production of software and hardware solutions for post-acute healthcare providers, such as skilled nursing facilities and assisted living homes. 

Jackson, MS: An abandoned nursing home will be transformed into a mixed-use property that includes a Veterans Affairs office and a nurse practitioner clinic. 

Missoula, MT: A new medical clinical building will address the unmet local demand for digestive medicine specialists in the city, and 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 is transforming 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. Inclusion Coffeehouse, owned by Craig locals Toni and Ryan Hess, 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 economies.

Newton, IL: A major employer is locating to a small town of 3,000 residents, developing a renewable diesel plant that will breathe new life into the community by creating good paying jobs and advancing the use of clean energy. 

Saco, ME: Ready Seafood developed a lobster processing plant, creating a surge in local economic development and business expansion. The University of Maine, Southern Maine Community College, and St. Joseph’s College will collaborate with the company to study lobsters and the sustainability of the lobster industry in Maine. 

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 City of Coatesville announced the Coatesville Impact Fund, developed by Activated Capital, which will invest up to $25 million to support single- and multi-family housing, small commercial properties, and local businesses aligned 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. 

San Bernardino, CA: RevOZ Capital and Sudweeks Development and Investment Co. partnered to develop a build-to-suit medical office building that will be leased to the County of San Bernardino for 15 years and is expected to house San Bernardino County’s Children’s Department of Behavioral Health. 

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.