The U.S. Department of Treasury announced on Monday, April 9, the City of Janesville was awarded three Economic Opportunity Zones which cover the former General Motors Assembly Plant, much of Janesville’s downtown, and the south side industrial parks including SHINE Medical Technologies.
According to City of Janesville Manager, Mark Freitag, “This is a very exciting development which promises great potential for investment in the City of Janesville. In recent years, we have seen considerable growth in our local economy, and City officials expect that momentum to be bolstered by this announcement.”
“The new private investment into businesses looking to locate at the former GM site from the Opportunity Zone designation will allow for the build out of the former GM Assembly Plant in a much shorter timeframe–bringing new jobs and taxes to the City of Janesville more quickly,” according to Colleen Kokas, Executive Vice President of Commercial Development Company, Inc.
“The Opportunity Zone is meaningful for SHINE, and will be meaningful for others looking to invest significant amounts of capital into the zones,” says Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE Medical Technologies. “The fact that the Governor has chosen to designate not one but three Opportunity Zones in Janesville speaks volumes about the work the City has done to position our community for strong and sustained growth.”
According to the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), “The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act established Opportunity Zones to spur private investment in distressed communities… This new Opportunity Zones program will allow investment in some of our nation’s most economically challenged communities through tax incentives… [which] encourage private investment to accelerate economic growth and job creation.”
