McGuireWoods and McGuireWoods Consulting today announced the creation of a national, multidisciplinary team to assist clients in optimizing opportunity zone investments and development. Opportunity zones stem from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and offer investors, lenders and real estate developers a way to defer and avoid taxes while helping economically distressed areas.
“These zones are another valuable tool in the toolbox for communities to help create jobs and spur economic growth, so efforts to align community leaders and investors will be key to their success at the local level,” said Chris Lloyd, director and senior vice president of McGuireWoods Consulting’s infrastructure and economic development team.
The national opportunity zone development team assists opportunity zone investors with tax structuring and fund formation, guides sponsors, companies and project developers through the governmental labyrinth and make the most of state and local incentives. The team has established best practices for matching opportunity zone projects with private equity capital and state and local incentives, and its members have the knowledge and experience to foster a collaborative approach to opportunity zone projects of varying complexity and size.
“The designated zones logically encompass a number of markets where our firm has well established real estate, tax and fund formation experience, and can present many varied real estate investment opportunities,” said Greg Riegle, who co-leads the law firm’s real estate capital markets industry team.
McGuireWoods lawyers have significant experience with tax management after selling capital gains assets. McGuireWoods Consulting identifies public-private partnership opportunities to use in conjunction with the opportunity zone program and assists with site selection, community support, education and awareness, and incentive negotiations.
“Governmental entities and developers alike are trying to determine whether opportunity zones will actually help reduce the cost of capital for projects and how to pair the incentive with other development tools at their disposal,” said McGuireWoods partner Doug Lamb, a leader of the law firm’s ongoing public-private partnership initiative. “We could see a mix of market participants who are unfamiliar with each other’s business models and risk appetites. McGuireWoods and McGuireWoods Consulting are experienced in meeting the challenges to arranging capital that could arise in such situations.”
With solid records of accomplishment in real estate, economic development, tax and fund formation, McGuireWoods’ collaborative national opportunity zone development team helps investors seek out specific projects, develop an exit strategy when investing in multiple projects and advise on how best to mitigate the risks associated with opportunity zones.
For more information about McGuireWoods’ national opportunity zone development team or to view a list of its members, please visit the group’s website.