Quantifying Economic Impacts in the Next Era of Opportunity Zone Investment

Michael Nealy

August 08, 2025 14:33

INTRODUCTION

Opportunity Zones have unlocked over $100 billion of investment in local communities since 2017, and now that they are a permanent part of the Federal Tax Code. Join our upcoming webinar to learn from leading experts on the impact on investors and communities going forward.

Opportunity Zones (OZs) were created through bipartisan legislation passed in 2017, based on ideas developed at leading policy think tanks. The program was designed to incentivize long-term private investment in designated low-income areas by offering tax deferrals and reductions on capital gains. With the recent passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Opportunity Zones have been made a permanent part of the federal tax code. In light of this policy shift, we’re diving into a major gap in the OZ reporting requirements: quantifying economic impacts.

In this webinar, IMPLAN’s Candi Clouse, Ph.D., and Chris Brown were joined by Griffin Capital Co-CEO Nick Rosenthal and Economic Innovation Group Senior Fellow Kenan Fikri for an in-depth panel discussion of how IMPLAN can be used across the full lifecycle of Opportunity Zone investment. The webinar explored:

How IMPLAN’s detailed sector-level economic data can assist state agencies and policymakers in identifying high-impact investment areas
The ins and outs of Griffin Capital’s economic impact analysis report on qualified opportunity zone funds
How IMPLAN can help OZ fund managers, investors, and local economic developers estimate and communicate the broader economic impacts of OZ investments, from jobs supported, to supply chain activity, to labor income
Why expanded incentives for rural zones suggest a broader set of future projects, including infrastructure, data centers, and energy