CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created OZs that utilize Federal tax incentives to draw long-term private investment to communities with high unemployment and poverty rates.

In the Pikes Peak Region there are a total of 8 OZs.

Interested investors will be able to defer, reduce and potentially eliminate their capital gains taxes by investing them in Opportunity Funds that provide needed long-term investments to promote economic vitality.

Opportunity Funds can be established as a partnership or corporation to invest in eligible opportunities in an OZ and will be required to meet U.S. Department of Treasury guidelines, which are still being established.

The state has launched a Colorado investment database to help investors find opportunities and for projects and entrepreneurs to connect to capital for growth across the state.

The Pikes Peak Region has created an investment prospectus to highlight opportunities and assets in the 8 OZs

Real estate development and significant rehabilitation in Opportunity Zones

Opening new businesses and expansions of businesses already within Opportunity Zones

Investing in startup businesses that have the potential for rapid increases in scale

Workforce and affordable housing projects

To implement the goals of the Master Plan.

a. A creative mix of business types and uses that support and employ our residents and serve as a regional economic magnet;

b. Strengthen connections within the area and to the community by improving roadways and expanding transit service;

c. Strengthen housing option that serves the need of existing and new residents and offers options for all ages and levels of income; and

d. Integrate the corridor’s streets, sidewalks, drainage, streetscape and other City infrastructure.

Encourage new investment while ensuring that redevelopment balances private investment objectives with community sustainability. This is accomplished by:

a. Orienting buildings towards the street and/or City trails/waterways to encourage pedestrian accessibility and walkability;

b. Fostering the development of mixed uses;

c. Encouraging multi-story buildings;

d. Promoting aesthetically pleasing building design;

e. Encouraging the incorporation of community and sustainable places and landscaping, including public art, public spaces, low impact water quality control, and LEED certified building design, which in turn enhance the desirability of the corridor; and

f. Minimizing visibility and impact of parking lots and service areas by locating significant parking and service access away from primary streets.

If the development includes any three (3) or more of the following:

a. Publicly accessible green spaces/plazas/detached sidewalks that either front a street or connect to sidewalks/trails;

b. Publicly displayed art that is minimum one percent (1%) overall project cost;

c. Affordable housing (as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and/or mixed-income housing;

d. LEED certified building plan design;

e. Adaptive reuse of historically significant buildings;

f. Use of aesthetically-pleasing low impact water quality controls that are accepted by Water Resource Engineering; and

g. Shared parking between adjacent properties.