Downtown could gain as Opportunity Zone
What if I told you that at least 82 people would be coming to Danbury this week to learn about investing in the downtown? It might have been a pipe dream a few years ago, but not now. It’s happening.
Downtown Danbury is a designated Opportunity Zone — one of 72 zones in 27 municipalities in Connecticut — and more than 80 people have signed up for a workshop Wednesday morning at the Palace Theater on Main Street to learn more about investing in city properties, businesses and entrepreneurs. That’s a lot of interest.
Opportunity Zones are something good that came out of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The program opens the door for investors to defer tax on capital gains through qualified Opportunity Funds created for investment in the zones. Opportunity Funds are “private investment vehicles dedicated to community, business, real estate, and economic development activities in America’s lowest-income communities,” according to the flier for the workshop.
“It’s a great way of bringing capital in these neighborhoods in our communities,” said Bob Santy, president of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center. CERC and the City of Danbury are among the sponsors of the Wednesday program. The agency has been helping other cities in the state understand Opportunity Zones; a similar workshop is scheduled for Friday in Stamford, which has five zones.
Alittle background on what makes an Opportunity Zone. Under the new law, a governor could nominate low-income census tracts, where at least 20 percent of the residents are below the poverty level or earn no more than 80 percent of the area’s median income, as the zones. The U.S. Treasury secretary had to certify the designations, which are good for 10 years.
Among the 27 Connecticut municipalities, Norwalk has three Opportunity Zones, Bridgeport and New Haven each have seven.
City governments and districts like CityCenter Danbury can do all they want to promote a downtown with amenities, such as flowers and flags, brick sidewalks and bright lighting, and events, such as outdoor concerts and farmers markets. That’s all positive. But with substantial private investment, tangible growth can take off.
The time is right in Danbury. “Downtown has a good buzz right now,” Betsy Paynter, the new executive director of CityCenter, told me as we sipped mocha coffee and chai tea recently at Mothership Bakery on Main Street. Sure, it’s her job to promote the downtown, but the chatter and bustle in the coffee shop underscored her observation.
Betsy’s background is in marketing and economic development, in Newtown and Brookfield governments, before coming to CityCenter Aug. 1.
Though she grew up in Danbury, she returns with a fresh perspective. She sees the downtown as “the center for arts and innovation.” I agree that the arts distinguish and uplift a community. And downtown Danbury, home of the Western Connecticut Cultural Alliance, the Music Center, the Danbury Museum and Historical Society, the Palace Theater, and more, is the hub. A Request for Proposal is out for new uses of Tuxedo Junction on Ives Street.
New business enterprises are incubated at the Hackerspace@TheInnovationCenter near the Danbury Public Library.
Downtown is not the retail center it was in the pre-mall days. Department stores, like Feinstein’s that once was an anchor on Main Street, are not likely to return. But places that offer experiences you can’t get on Amazon — think coffee shops, wine bars, restaurants — can thrive.
Downtown Danbury, a financial and professional center, has people. And that is a strength. Nearly all 365 apartments at Kennedy Flats are rented, and another 150 apartments are scheduled to be constructed soon on the former site of The News-Times on Main Street. Naugatuck Valley Community College, at the corner of Main and West streets, brings about 500 new students every year to downtown.
Danbury, and the other 26 municipalities in Connecticut, will be competing against 8,700 Opportunity Zones across the country for investments. The Hat City is at a point ripe for catalytic growth, though, and the high interest in Wednesday’s informational session is one indication.