National Study Ranked Nearly 8,000 Opportunity Zone Tracts in 2 Categories: Newark Had One in Top 10 of Both

As seen in this ROI-NJ article, “The city of Newark has one of the top locations in the country for investors looking to take advantage of the new Opportunity Zone Program, according to a national study released Thursday morning.

“The LOCUS National Opportunity Zone Ranking Report ranked a census tract in downtown Newark in a tie for sixth place among the top Opportunity Zones for Smart Growth Potential, in a ranking of nearly 8,000 tracts.”

Ted Zangari, a Chair of the Sills Cummis & Gross Real Estate Department as well as Chair of the Firm’s Redevelopment Law and Government Relations & Public Policy Practice Groups, said he wasn’t surprised by the findings. According to Zangari, “‘Downtown Newark’s fourth-place ranking among the top 50 OZs in the country will come as no surprise to those who have studied the OZ maps — the downtown Newark census tract sweeps straight across the Broad Street corridor, from Penn Station to the Broad Street station. Incredible real estate by any measure, including proximity and mass transit connectivity to one of the world’s greatest cities.’”

Later in the article, Zangari continues, “‘The Opportunity Zone program will provide another money source for redevelopers struggling to put together their capital stack, but, let’s be clear — this is not a grant or low-interest loan,’ he said. ‘Opportunity Zone funds must be invested as equity into a project, so the program is no substitute for the incentives and debt financing that will still be needed for a project to make sense in the first place.’

‘Opportunity Zone investments will not spark a project — in fact, given the time constraints of the program, there’s no time for that anyway.  Rather, Opportunity Zone investments will likely be most effective in completing the final missing piece of funds needed for an otherwise shovel-ready, fully entitled project.’”