Chicago & Midwest + North Side + Finance | November 26, 2018

Origin Amasses $105M for Opportunity Zone Fund

Private equity real estate firm Origin Investments launched a Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) fund before Thanksgiving, and amassed $105 million in commitments from 425 investors in 17 hours. In contrast to firms raising blind capital for QOZ funds, Chicago-based Origin has three multifamily opportunity zone projects under contract—one in Denver and two in Charlotte.

QOZs were established in 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to incentivize long-term investment in economically distressed areas via favorable tax treatment. However, said Origin’s Michael Episcope, “the QOZ tax benefit doesn’t change the fundamentals of sound real estate investing. These projects need to pass the same scrutiny as developments in non-QOZ areas, and be able to produce viable, risk-adjusted returns.”

Episcope added that finding qualified investments that can provide a solid return is another challenge. “Even though the U.S. has over 8,700 QOZs, 90% of them aren’t ready for redevelopment capital today,” he said.

Pictured: Origin Investments headquarters

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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