Frederick Launches Website to Highlight Local Opportunity Zones

Frederick County, in collaboration with the City of Frederick and City of Brunswick, recently launched a website to help connect investors with existing local ventures eligible for the Opportunity Zone incentive program.

The Opportunity Zone program is a nationwide initiative administered by the U.S. Treasury. The program encourages long-term investment of unrealized capital gains into select communities (Opportunity Zones) via a special investment vehicle called Opportunity Funds.

Investors may receive increasing discounts on any capital gains taxes due on that money. If an investment is left in the Opportunity Fund for 10 years, any new gains are free of capital gains taxes.

The program is designed to be flexible, allowing a wide range of investments, and unlike other federal tax programs, there is no authorized cap on the amount of capital that could be made available through Opportunity Zone investments.

According to a press release:

“Frederick County is a great place to do business,” said Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner. “We want to provide investors with a range of opportunities. These new Opportunity Zones provide another reason companies and businesses should locate and expand in Frederick County.”

The Frederick County map-based, interactive platform highlights potential projects throughout the five designated Opportunity Zone Census tracts in Frederick County. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development announced Governor Larry Hogan’s approval in April 2018 of 149 zones in Maryland. Zones were selected based on low-tomoderate income eligible census tracts at the Governor’s discretion.

The five zones in Frederick County have been identified on the website into three areas:

  •  The City of Frederick Opportunity Zone
  • Frederick County RT 355/85 Corridor Opportunity Zone
  • City of Brunswick Opportunity Zone

The County’s Opportunity Zone is centered on the growing RT355/85 Corridor and includes the office, industrial and retail areas of Westview and the FSK Mall. The Frederick County RT 355/85 Opportunity Zone is central to the I-270/I-70 Interchange and the Frederick MARC Station.

Read the full press release for more information.