Project Overview

Lorain County has begun work with the community and other stakeholders to develop a redevelopment plan and implementation strategy for the sites at the mouth and along the banks of the Black River. The project area has been impacted by the downturn in the domestic steel production industry and has experienced disinvestment, poverty, and abandonment. The area contains vacant industrial, commercial, and residential land, which create hazardous conditions for residents and the environment. The area-wide plan will enable the county to transform the project area into a revitalized, mixed-use, and sustainable community featuring trails that connect to open access of Lake Erie.

Lorain Draft Project Area: LorainDraftProjectArea10-6-17

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Opportunity Zones

An Opportunity Zone is a census tract that has been classified as an economically- distressed community where new investments may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Localities qualify as Opportunity Zones if they have been nominated for that designation by the state and that nomination has been certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Program Overview

The goal of the Opportunity Zone Program is to drive investment in rural and low-income urban communities that have struggled to recover post-recession. The Program is designed to unlock private capital currently held in appreciated assets and redeploy that capital into distressed areas that have struggled to attract investment.

The Opportunity Zone Program allows a taxpayer to reinvest proceeds from the sale of an eligible business or property (proceeds that otherwise would be required to pay capital gains tax liability) into an Opportunity Fund. This Opportunity Fund, in turn, will invest in one or more businesses or properties located within qualified Opportunity Zones.