Windham Nominated for Opportunity Zone

May 3, 2018

I'm pleased by the governor's recent announcement that a section of Windham is among the administration’s nominations of 72 opportunity zones in Connecticut. The nominations are part of the federal government’s Opportunity Zone Program, which incentivizes investments in low-income communities. The area nominated in Windham is located in downtown Willimantic.

I’m glad that the governor has recognized Willimantic as an area with great potential for growth. I hope that the federal administration will move to quickly approve this nomination, which would help Windham court increased business investment, revitalize the downtown area, and increase our property tax base.

The program provides a federal tax incentive for investors to re-invest unrealized capital gains into opportunity zones through opportunity funds. Under the terms of the program, the governor of each state must submit a plan to the federal government designating up to 25 percent of the qualified census tracts in their state as opportunity zones, which is then subject to approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

Qualifying investments may include a range of commercial and residential investments, such as transit-oriented development, affordable housing and mixed-use development, and energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on public and private assets.