AVON — The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and the Town of Avon are bringing together stakeholders at Avon Town Hall Tuesday to learn and discuss Colorado’s Opportunity Zones and how they can benefit Avon projects. Opportunity Zones, a part of the 2017 tax reform package, seek to promote economic vitality by incentivizing new development with favorable tax treatment of reinvested capital gains and forgiveness of tax on new capital gains. This provides a new impetus for private investors to support communities through private equity investments in business and real estate ventures.
The town of Avon’s census tract was submitted to the U.S. Treasury for formal approval in late 2017. In turn, Avon’s approved Opportunity Zone comprises the majority of the town and includes all developed and undeveloped portions of the valley floor.
“Opportunity Zones are powerful assets in our economic development toolkit. We want to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including developers, fund managers, real estate brokers, investors, and elected officials to show them how this innovative program can be implemented to shape projects and investment that can catalyze our community,” Avon Town Council member Scott Prince said.
The afternoon workshop will include presentations on Opportunity Zone fundamentals, recommendations on how to engage investors, and tools for communities. Jana Persky, Strategic Initiatives Manager at OEDIT, manages the Opportunity Zone program for the state of Colorado. Plenty of time will be left for questions and networking. The same evening, Persky will give an overview presentation to the council.
“We are seeing significant interest in leveraging the Opportunity Zone designation and investment model. We expect investment to grow as more people learn about the tax benefits of investing in projects in Town. We think Opportunity Zones will be a game changer for Avon,” Prince said.
Here’s agenda for the session, which will be held at Avon Town Hall:
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2 p.m.: Welcome and Introductions.
2 to 2:30 p.m.: OZ Fundamentals.
2:30 to 3 p.m.: Real World OZ Case Studies.
3 to 3:30: Questions and answers.
3:30 to 4 p.m.: Networking.
4 to 5 p.m.: Break
5 p.m.: Presentation to Avon Town Council.
For more information on Opportunity Zones, contact Matt Pielsticker, Planning Director, 970-748-4413 or mpielsticker@avon.org.
