Last week, the City of Coachella, California launched Opportunity Coachella, a competition for businesses looking to relocate, launch, or expand into an Opportunity Zone. The competition is now accepting applications and will award more than $15,000 to winners. The contest is part of ongoing efforts to bring businesses into Opportunity Zones. Winners will be announced via a virtual event on July 15.

Additionally, the first Opportunity Zone project in Aurora, Colorado has officially opened phase one of their residential development, Legacy at Fitz. The property includes 109 residences in a five story building and two townhome buildings.

The City of Coachella Launches Opportunity Coachella Competition

The City of Coachella, California Economic Development Office recently launched Opportunity Coachella, a business attraction competition and community engagement survey. The competition is accepting applications from companies of any size seeking to launch, expand, or relocate to the City of Coachella, Thermal, Mecca, or North Shore’s Opportunity Zones. Winners will be awarded over $15,000. The goal of the competition is to foster entrepreneurship within the communities, create additional jobs, and bring in additional in-demand services to residents.

“We are excited to announce the launch of Opportunity Coachella,” Mayor Steven Hernandez said in a prepared statement. “This is a great opportunity for Coachella to attract new businesses or businesses in transition that may want to relocate. “We want to make the most of this opportunity where businesses reap the tax incentives become more profitable while our residents benefit from good paying jobs that are close to home.”

Aurora, Colorado’s First Opportunity Zone Residential Community Opened

Colorado’s first large-scale residential development to break ground in an Aurora Opportunity Zone opened to residents last week. Phase 1 of Legacy at Fitz consists of a five-story building with 109 residences and two townhome buildings with a total of nine three-bedroom units. Developed by Legacy Partners and Griffin Capital Company, the community is located just minutes from Denver International Airport and a half-mile from an RTD light rail station.

“We are very pleased with the Legacy at Fitz project, one of four multifamily developments where we have joined forces with Legacy Partners, one of the country’s leading apartment companies,” said Eric Kaplan, President of Griffin Capital Private Equity. “Located within a designated Qualified Opportunity Zone, and across the street from the largest medical complex in the Rocky Mountain region, Legacy at Fitz is one of nine new apartment communities in our inaugural QOZ fund. All of these projects will provide much-needed housing and stimulate economic development while enabling our investors to take advantage of potential significant tax benefits.”

Multi-Housing Project Secures Financing in Dallas Opportunity Zone

JLL Capital Markets announced last week the closing of capitalization on The Willow, a 190-unit multi-housing development located in a Deep Ellum Opportunity Zone, a micromarket of Dallas, Texas. The Willow will feature 171,000 square-feet of rentable space in an eight-story building. The development will offer live-work units along the ground level and loft-style bedrooms. The community includes a rooftop sky lounge with downtown views, a fitness center, bike workshop, and coffee bar. The Willow represents the firm’s second Opportunity Zone Development.

“The Willow is a perfect archetype of Larkspur’s focus on building interesting projects in truly walkable, urban environments,” said Carl Anderson, Principal at Larkspur, said.  “We’re excited at the post-Covid momentum taking place across retail, office, and multi-housing assets in Deep Ellum and look forward to contributing to the neighborhood for the long term.”

Redivider Blockchain Launches Opportunity Zone Fund

Redivider Blockchain has launched an Opportunity Zone fund to service the growing U.S. digital asset mining industry. The Redivider Opportunity Zone Fund is raising capital to invest into a qualified Opportunity Zone business that will offer computing leases and hosting services to cryptocurrency mining. Redivider will be tasked with finding, acquiring, and building multiple data center locations nationwide, as well as acquiring large inventories of specialized servers to process transactions.

They also are allocating 10 percent of the funds into other high yield securities or cryptocurrencies, “to the extent permitted by the opportunity zone rules.”