Opportunity Zones Podcast

Plenty of Opportunity Zone sponsors can raise capital, but delivering takes more. BJ Kuula of Kinect Real Estate Partners has closed four OZ deals since 2020, the first starting at the onset of COVID. On-site at the Novogradac 2026 Opportunity Zones Conference, he walks Jimmy Atkinson through how investors and RIAs should vet a sponsor: fees, alignment, track record, and moderate leverage. Plus, BJ breaks down Kinect’s Gresham OZ fund, a podium project next to a light rail station in an OZ 1.0 tract that will bring in both OZ 1.0 and OZ 2.0 investors. He also previews the multi-asset OZ investment fund Kinect plans to launch in early 2027. Show notes: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/11/bj-kuula-399/

When San Jose's Office of Economic Development needed to decide which census tracts to prioritize for OZ 2.0, it asked Erik Hayden. The founder and CEO of Urban Catalyst ranked his top 10, and the city took his list to the state. Erik joined Jimmy on-site at the Novogradac 2026 Opportunity Zones Conference in Washington DC to share what nearly a decade of Opportunity Zone development in Silicon Valley has taught him. Plus, Erik explains why investors care about the deferral of gains before the ten-year tax-free profits, why he won't chase the 30% rural benefit, how the ten-year hold complicates ground-up financing, and how Urban Catalyst’s third fund lets investors with 2026 gains commit now and wire funds as early as January 2027. Show notes: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/11/erik-hayden-398/

More than 6,500 census tracts have been nominated for OZ 2.0 across all 56 jurisdictions. What happens next? Some states are already hearing that their nominations have been certified by the Treasury Department ahead of the January 1, 2027 go-live date. In this episode recorded on-site at the Novogradac 2026 Opportunity Zones Conference in Washington, DC, host Jimmy Atkinson is joined by Frances Kern Mennone of FBT Gibbons to cover where every state stands on the OZ 2.0 map. Show notes: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/11/frances-mennone-397/

All 56 jurisdictions have submitted their Opportunity Zone 2.0 nominations to the U.S. Treasury Department, but only 28 have published their lists of nominated census tracts. In this live episode, Jimmy Atkinson walks through the OZ 2.0 nominations map, which now shows 3,609 nominated tracts across those 28 jurisdictions. That's about 55% of the roughly 6,576 designations expected nationwide. More info: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/11/oz-2-0-nominations-update/

The IRS's proposed regulations on Opportunity Zone reporting push a new layer of data collection down to the QOZB level, and the OZ 2.0 reporting requirements already apply to the 2026 tax year. Josh Zamansky, CEO of OZXpro, explains what's new, why the burden falls on QOZBs, and what QOF managers and their CPAs should do before final regulations land. Plus, Josh gives a live walkthrough of the OZXpro data platform, showing how QOZB data flows up to the QOF for the 90% test and the active business tests, and how the platform builds an evidence vault for audits and investor questions. Learn more and schedule a demo: https://www.ozxpro.com/podcast

Novogradac partner Jason Watkins joins Jimmy Atkinson to break down three recent IRS actions on Opportunity Zones: Notice 2026-40, the transition guidance that gives projects in OZ 1.0 census tracts that are not redesignated until the end of 2026 to qualify; Notice 2026-55, Treasury's request for comments on how to improve the OZ regulations, including single-family home construction and operating businesses; and the notice of proposed rulemaking on new QOF and QOZB reporting requirements and QOF certification and decertification procedures. Plus, a preview of the Novogradac 2026 Opportunity Zones Conference, taking place October 29 and 30 at the Fairmont in Georgetown, Washington, DC, and the OZ Insiders dinner taking place on October 28. Save 10% on registration at novoco.com with promo code OZCOM26. Show notes: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/09/jason-watkins-394/

You've got a capital gain and 180 days to invest it. But where do you actually find an Opportunity Zone investment? Today, we'll tour the OZ Investment Marketplace at OpportunityZones.com, showing how investors and advisors can browse and filter OZ investments in one place. Visit the OZ Investment Marketplace: https://opportunityzones.com/marketplace/

The OZ 2.0 map is being drawn right now. Five jurisdictions have already sent tract nominations to Treasury, and the other 51 have until September 28 to decide. On this episode of OZ LIVE, Jimmy Atkinson and Andy Hagans walk through where all 56 states and territories stand in the OZ 2.0 nomination process, and the key dates and deadlines between now and the January 1, 2027 effective date.

Sell an asset at a gain and you have 180 days to get it into a Qualified Opportunity Fund. From there, two paths: start your own self-directed captive QOF, or invest through a professionally managed sponsor QOF. In this panel recorded live at OZ Pitch Day, host Jimmy Atkinson is joined by HotelSHIFT founder and CEO Alex Cartwright, HCVT tax partner Blake Christian, and attorney Gerry Reihsen, who compare the two paths through a Denver hotel-to-apartment conversion that raised capital through both channels. Plus: which 2026 gains can still reach OZ 2.0, a contract-sale strategy that converts a sponsor's acquisition fee into short-term capital gain, HotelSHIFT's end-of-life hotel conversion model, and how much gain it takes to justify a fund of your own. Show notes: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/08/captive-qof-vs-sponsor-qof-which-path-fits-your-gain/

Treasury's new working paper puts a hard number on the first seven years of Opportunity Zones: $112 billion of Opportunity Zone investments through the end of 2024, reaching more than 6,000 census tracts. Catherine Lyons of the Economic Innovation Group joins the show to unpack the data, including the finding that rural Opportunity Zones matched urban ones in reach at 77 percent, even as rural deals came in far smaller. Plus, Catherine explains what separates a 96 percent hit rate from a 23 percent one as governors finalize their OZ 2.0 nominations, why only 3,000 new investors entered the market between 2021 and 2024, and where the EIG Opportunity Zones Coalition is pushing Treasury to change transition guidance issued in IRS Notice 2026-40. Show notes & summary: https://opportunityzones.com/2026/07/catherine-lyons-390/