Youngwoo, EquityMultiple To Raise $500M To Invest In Opportunity Zones Across The U.S.

Though the particulars of Opportunity Zones created through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that passed last year remain murky, the concept is generating plenty of interest.

New York-based Youngwoo & Associates has partnered with online investment platform EquityMultiple, also headquartered in New York, to launch an investment fund dedicated to investing in opportunity zones, The Real Deal reports. The companies have set a tentative fundraising target of $500M.

Youngwoo Executive Vice President Bryan Woo told TRD the fund will target the companies' home city, as well as Seattle, Oakland, Detroit, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. Within New York, the fund will focus specifically on developments in the South Bronx and the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, TRD reports.

Under the new tax law, certain census tracts identified by federal and state governments as destitute or disinvested can be or have been designated as opportunity zones. Investors can defer capital gains taxes on the sale of their assets until 2026 if they invest those capital gains within six months into a qualified Opportunity Zone Fund like the one Youngwoo and EquityMultiple are launching.

Such funds must deploy at least 90% of their capital into opportunity zones, and are subject to a twice-yearly check according to the law. Capital gains realized from the sale of assets built in opportunity zones will be exempt from taxes, provided that the seller has held that asset for at least 10 years. That said, many investors are hesitant to pull the trigger on major deals because there are still many granular details surrounding the policy that have yet to be explained.