Development officials and community leaders along the Lake to River corridor are preparing to capitalize on last week’s announcement that 20 local census tracts have been designated federal Opportunity Zones, The Business Journal Daily reported Monday. The tracts, in Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties, were among 260 Ohio tracts designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The designations were announced November 5 by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, which said 6,576 census tracts nationwide were designated as Qualified Opportunity Zones across all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. The new designations take effect January 1, 2027, and remain in place for ten years, according to the IRS announcement.
Opportunity Zones are economically distressed census tracts where qualifying private investments may receive preferential tax treatment. The Business Journal Daily reported that corridor leaders and development officials hailed the announcement, which gives communities in the four-county Lake to River region a decade-long window to steer private capital toward housing, business expansion and job creation…