If you, like almost all of us, have unrealized capital gains sitting around, boy howdy does Cleveland want you to do business in one of the area’s Opportunity Zones. A coalition including the Cuyahoga County Land Bank, the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Fund for Our Economic Future and others today unveiled Opportunity CLE, a program that aims to attract development in federally approved census tracts where investors with unrealized capital gains can get tax breaks, and even eliminate all taxes, on that money.
“Pretty much everyone is trying to figure out what to do about Opportunity Zones.” In a statement he said, “The floodgates are about to open regarding investment in opportunity zones, and we are gearing up to aggressively compete for investments in Cuyahoga County projects. This program has the potential to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in catalytic urban development opportunities here, stimulating growth and job creation in Cleveland and surrounding communities.”
“The effect on low-income residents of Opportunity Zones is less clear,” the think tank wrote in a report. To date, only one planned project has been announced that specifically cited the Opportunity Zone credit as a lynchpin, that being The Tappan, a proposed mixed-use “Mixed income” development in Tremont. Stark Enterprises, which is hoping to finally break ground on the nuCLEus development across from Quicken Loans Arena this summer, considered the Opportunity Zone bit a cherry on top that will improve slim profit margins.