The mid-year Arizona Real Estate Forum took place on August 1st, 2019, giving attendees a chance to connect and share their achievements and challenges as well as receive an update from industry leaders regarding future market trends and expectations.
The meeting was held at The Camby Hotel in Phoenix and was led by two expert panels focused on brokerage and development.
One of the experts attending the meeting was Jennifer Schrader, Caliber COO, president and co-founder. At the forum, Schrader discussed the benefits of the opportunity zone initiative and gave predictions on the future of commercial real estate.
As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, opportunity zones were created to spur investment in economically challenged areas. The initiative draws investors by allowing them to take advantage of a preferential tax treatment.
“[There is] so much more flexibility with this program. I can be in a partnership, I can sell the asset, and we can dissolve the partnership, we can each take our own portion of the capital gain and invest it into a qualified opportunity zone. Our basis comes back to us, we can choose to continue to be partners, we can choose not to. We can also choose the amount that’s reinvested in the opportunity zones,” Schrader said at the forum.
Since launching their opportunity zone program, Caliber’s role in the initiative has so far been great. As one of the first real estate firms to capitalize on the incentive, Caliber currently manages their own $500 million multi-asset fund. During the event, panelists made it clear that Phoenix’s current commercial real estate market would continue to flourish as a result of the state’s thriving employment market.
“With the opportunity zones, now we are looking at acquiring assets and redeveloping them — because that’s the key to it. We are confident in the jobs that’s creating, so it really goes full cycle,” Schrader said.
Learn more about Caliber Tax Advantaged Opportunity Zone Fund here.