Opportunity Zones Podcast

The long-awaited second tranche of IRS regulatory guidance on Qualified Opportunity Funds has finally arrived. Tony Nitti is an Aspen-based real estate tax law expert, CPA, and tax services partner at RubinBrown. Additionally, he serves on the editorial advisory board for The Tax Adviser. And he’s also a regular contributor at Forbes.com, where his latest article addresses the 10 biggest questions...

What are some due diligence best practices that every investor should undertake before investing in a Qualified Opportunity Fund? Chris Paganelli is a San Francisco Bay Area-based financial advisor at wealth management firm Stifel. He advises high net worth clients on tax strategy, wealth preservation, and portfolio management. Stifel launched a qualified opportunity fund earlier this month. Show...

The long awaited second tranche of IRS regulatory guidance on Qualified Opportunity Funds will produce a set of principles and safe harbors that will give investors the ability to move forward. The best part? One senior Treasury official has said that they want qualified opportunity zone businesses "to sell to the world." Daniel Kowalski is Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury. He speaks reg...

How has the Opportunity Zones program opened up community development to a different class of investors? And how will revitalization projects impact OZ communities? Jill Homan is founder and president of Javelin 19 Investments, a Washington DC-based commercial real estate investor, developer, and Opportunity Zones advisor. She testified at the IRS hearing on Qualified Opportunity Funds in Washingt...

How can AI be leveraged to improve Opportunity Zone investing? Former AirBNB executive Stefan Schimenes founded InvestReal last month with a mission to create the first data-driven real estate marketplace for Opportunity Zones, using AI to support investment decisions with data from numerous sources. Show notes and transcript on OpportunityDb.com

Should the Treasury Department impose a community impact reporting requirement on Opportunity Zone investing? And what would a reporting framework even look like? John Cochrane is senior associate at the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, which recently created the Opportunity Zones Reporting Framework in partnership with the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation. Show notes and transcript on O...

UPDATE OCTOBER 2022: Josh Burrell has been sentenced to prison for securities fraud. Please see Justice.gov. Can blockchain technology revolutionize Opportunity Zones real estate investing? Josh Burrell and Lane Campbell at Activated Capital have an opportunity zone fund that may become one of the first to make use of a security token offering utilizing blockchain technology. Show notes and transc...

How can real estate investing in Opportunity Zones create triple bottom line returns? Loren Schirber is project pipeline manager for Minnesota Opportunity Zone Advisors, which recently started raising capital for their DREAM Fund. DREAM stands for “Developing Real Estate in Emerging Areas of Minnesota.” The fund is a Qualified Opportunity Fund that targets community-driven economic, social, and en...

What will business investing in Opportunity Zones look like? Coworking hub and startup incubator Launch Pad may offer the best example I've seen so far.  The husband-wife team of CEO Chris Schultz and president Anne Driscoll are on a mission to create the world's strongest community of entrepreneurial workers. Show notes and transcript on OpportunityDb.com

What types of opportunity zone investments are community leaders looking for? And what can local communities do to incentivize investment in their opportunity zones? Erin Gillespie is principal at economic development consulting firm Madison Street Strategies and former deputy chief of staff for Florida’s Department of Economic Development Opportunity. Show notes and transcript at OpportunityDb.co...

Last Thursday, February 14, the IRS Auditorium in Washington DC was packed to capacity with over 200 attendees as stakeholders spoke during the public hearing on proposed regulations: “Investing in Qualified Opportunity Funds” (REG-115420-18). For the most part, hearing participants requested additional clarification on several aspects of proposed regulations and suggested improvements to the regu...

What does Opportunity Zone deal flow actually look like at the deal level, fund level, and investor level? And which Opportunity Zones are seeing the greatest amount of deal flow?  Craig Bernstein is principal at OPZ Bernstein, which recently launched the OPZ Bernstein Opportunity Zone Fund. Craig has over 20 years of real estate experience, and is one of the leaders in the Opportunity Zones indus...

Part 2 of 2 with Thomas Morgan: How is the Opportunity Zones program stimulating more impact investing across the United States? Real estate broker, developer, investor, and impact investing expert Thomas Morgan joins me today to discuss this topic and more. Note: this is Part 2 of my conversation with Thomas. If you missed it, go to the previous episode for Part 1, where we discuss the key simila...

Part 1 of 2 with Thomas Morgan: What are some of the key similarities and differences between a 1031 exchange and an Opportunity Zones investment? And how do the investor profiles of the two programs differ? Real estate broker, developer, investor, and 1031 expert Thomas Morgan joins me today to discuss these topics and more. Note: this is Part 1 of my conversation with Thomas. Go to the next epis...

Are two tax incentives better than one? Stacking, or twinning, multiple tax credits can oftentimes help bridge a funding gap on certain real estate projects. The Opportunity Zones program can be paired with a variety of other tax credits, including the Historic Tax Credit. The place-based nature of the Opportunity Zones program makes it ideally suited to be paired with the Historic Tax Credit. The...

How do we prevent the Opportunity Zones program from becoming merely a subsidy for gentrification? How can we instead ensure that opportunity zone investments actually benefit the people who live in the designated zones so that they can participate in any subsequent economic upturn? Dallas-based entrepreneurial business attorney Gerry Reihsen is out to answer those questions (and more) with his ne...

What does a rural opportunity zone revitalization project look like? And how can public-private partnerships help to accelerate a community’s renewal? The Colorado Outdoors project in Montrose County offers an excellent case study to answer these questions.  Montrose, Colorado is home to 20,000 people. Although it has struggled since the economic downturn of the last decade, Montrose is one of the...

Will the opportunity zone initiative accelerate the nation’s transition to renewable energy? Find out why solar energy development and opportunity zone investing may be ideally suited for each other. Allen Alley is a technology investor, former Republican candidate for governor of Oregon, and co-founder of the Obsidian Opportunity Fund. Obsidian’s fund applies opportunity fund investing to renewab...

What does a project-driven opportunity zone fund actually look like? Where do investor dollars go? What's the fee structure? And what kind of positive social impact does it have on the community? Greg Genovese is president of Seattle-based Sound West Realty Capital, a full-service real estate firm raising funds for a re-development project in Bremerton, Washington. Greg and I discuss what investor...

Nearly every opportunity zone fund in existence today invests primarily in real estate development. But what about investing in business? Vijar Kohli is co-founder and portfolio manager at Golden Door Asset Management, a micro private equity firm that recently started an opportunity zone fund focused on recapitalizing small businesses in the northeast corridor between Baltimore and Boston. Show no...

Family offices and high net worth individuals: if you have questions about investing in opportunity zones, this is the episode for you. Joining me is DJ Van Keuren -- a top 10 U.S. family office real estate professional. DJ Van Keuren literally wrote the book on family office real estate investing. He is also a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council, founder of the Family Office Real Estate Inst...

Opportunity fund consultant David Sillaman and host Jimmy Atkinson discuss the potential of the opportunity zone incentive to transform America and then dive into some tips for creating an opportunity fund, including the benefits and drawbacks of structuring as a corporation versus a partnership. David Sillaman is an expert business consultant who knows how to sweat the details when it comes to cr...

Real estate tax law expert Tony Nitti and host Jimmy Atkinson discuss the basics of the Opportunity Zones tax incentive and then dive into some unintended consequences introduced by the proposed IRS regulations. Self-described “codehead” Tony Nitti is a real estate tax law expert, CPA, and partner at WithumSmith+Brown. He also serves on the editorial advisory board for The Tax Adviser. And he’s a...

How much do you know about opportunity zones? Maybe you know the basics — that the opportunity zones program is an economic policy intended to revitalize some of the most economically distressed areas of the country, and that to encourage investment in such communities, huge tax benefits await investors. Capital gains deferral on the front end, as well as capital gains exclusion on the back end. B...