Winrock International and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) have unveiled a new Opportunity Zone investment hub called Opportunity Arkansas.
This online platform is designed to help local officials, investors and others search for and learn about Opportunity Zone projects. Opportunity Arkansas also allows individuals to submit projects to the platform.
Opportunity Arkansas will feature an interactive map and will provide investment and technical assistance.
“We know from experience that small and rural communities are often overlooked because they lack the information needed to access and attract investment opportunities,” Winrock International U.S. Programs Senior Director Linsley Kinkade said in a statement. “Opportunity Arkansas will help address that gap by providing easy, actionable investment information for areas of our state that need it the most.”
According to a Winrock release, the hub aims to attract both local and national capital to Arkansas, increase the exposure of local projects, and generate new businesses and jobs in Arkansas communities.
Currently, the site features four projects. It features a four real estate projects at the Harvey Couch Business Park in Columbia County, the Newport Airbase Industrial Park Site #1 in Jackson County, the Paragould South Industrial Site in Greene County, and the West Memphis I-40 Megasite in Crittenden County.
The project was funded by the Delta Regional Authority and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
In Arkansas, there are 85 Opportunity Zones, which are defined as an “economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment,” according to the AEDC website.
Created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the first set of Opportunity Zones were designated in 2018. Since that time, Opportunity Zones have been established in all 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.
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