Opportunity Zone Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 22

22 OPPORTUNITY ZONE MAGAZINE | VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 3
WHY NUMBERS SHOW
OPPORTUNITY IN
OPPORTUNITY ZONES
By Jeremy Goldstein
OZ attributes include strong employment options, high quality infrastructure, growing rent and income
levels, local amenities, and a higher rate of young people to make OZs attractive investment areas.
If you were asked to describe the general characteristics
of Opportunity Zone locations, the 8,766 census tracts
themselves, how would you describe them? You might
most likely focus on the problems: low income, high
unemployment, high vacancy rates, history of disinvestment.
After all, that’s why these census tracts were chosen as OZs in
the first place. From the outset of the legislation, the focus on
OZ locations has been on negative attributes. But that focus
may be influencing perception on OZs as good investments.
When speaking with fund managers, developers, and investors
about OZs, many of them say they face uncertainty about OZs.
Sometimes it is their own uncertainty about these locations;
other times pushback comes from investment partners.
Usually this pushback stems from a perception that OZs lack
the qualities needed to be successful investments.
But the reality is, OZs are starting to show a great deal of
potential. A closer look at some key facts and figures paints
a more complete and more promising picture of these zones.
Here are some of the ways in which OZs are beginning to
buck prevailing perception.
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