On December 6, Atlanta City Council passed legislation authorizing changes to the City of Atlanta's Urban Redevelopment Plan, enabling ADA to submit an application to the Department of Community Affairs for an Opportunity Zone (OZ) designation within the city. Opportunity zones are a state redevelopment tool designed to help communities bring jobs to areas with pervasive poverty, defined as as a poverty rate of more than 15 percent.
Once this designation is approved by the DCA, it will provide local companies with increased incentives and benefits for job creation. An OZ allows companies located within its boundaries to receive $3,500 per job per year for five years: a total of $17,500, for every net new job created. Any legal business entity creating two or more jobs within one year could qualify for these credits. Many of Atlanta's neighboring communities already have Opportunity Zones in place and have experienced significant job creation in these targeted geographic regions.
Atlanta's OZ application will focus on industrial areas, office properties, and small business zones. We hope to have our application into DCA for approval no later than December 31, 2010. If you have questions about the City of Atlanta's OZ application, please contact Amanda Shailendra at 404.614.8299 or ashailendra@atlantada.com.
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