Photo of Ted Zangari

Ted Zangari is a Member of Sills Cummis & Gross and is a Chair of the Firm's Real Estate Department.  Mr. Zangari also chairs the Firm's Government Relations and Public Policy Practice and its Redevelopment Law Practice.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released an interactive map that provides details about significant transportation-related facilities, such as highway exits, train stations, and bus stops, that are located in or near Opportunity Zones. Click here to read more.

On April 17, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued new proposed regulations to address a number of the outstanding questions and ambiguities pertaining to the Opportunity Zone program. The hope is that the new IRS guidance will spur significant Opportunity Zone investments that have been on the sidelines waiting for additional clarity. The proposed regulations answer major questions regarding original use and substantial improvement of tangible property and vacant land, requirements for being considered a Qualified Opportunity Zone Business (“QOZB”), the treatment of leased property, income inclusion events and distributions, and how long a Qualified Opportunity Fund (“QOF”) has to deploy capital in Qualified Opportunity Zone Property to satisfy the 90 percent asset test.

There are still outstanding issues and questions, including the tax treatment of interim gains of a QOF during an investor’s holding period and QOF compliance reporting, to name a few. However, the IRS’s most recent regulation proposal should facilitate additional activity and deal flow in the Opportunity Zone space. Here are a number of key highlights from the voluminous regulation release:

Real Estate Development

  • The regulations specify that the original use and substantial improvement requirements do not apply to vacant land. Accordingly, any development of vacant property should qualify for QOF investment.
  • Additionally, structures and buildings that have been vacant for 5 years will satisfy the original use requirement and will not require substantial improvements.

Continue Reading Much-Needed Clarity Finally Arrives for Reaching the Land of OZ

As seen on: ROI-NJ.com
By Tom Bergeron

The city of Newark has one of the top locations in the country for investors looking to take advantage of the new Opportunity Zone Program, according to a national study released Thursday morning.

The LOCUS National Opportunity Zone Ranking Report ranked a census tract in downtown Newark in

As seen on: ROI-NJ.com
By Tom Bergeron

The panelists at the Opportunity Zone program were a bit bombastic when it came time to describe the potential the program has in low-income areas.

“Too good to be true,” said one.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said another.

Ted Zangari, head of the Real Estate

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was being negotiated and considered by Congress at the end of 2017, most practitioners, developers, and business owners were trying to assess its impacts on the mortgage interest limitation, the cap on the state and local tax deduction, 1031 exchanges, immediate expensing of business assets, and other key issues. In that flurry of negotiation and analysis, a powerful federal tax incentive was added to the law that could lead to a vast transfer of wealth while also funding the revitalization of some of the country’s most distressed areas. That new powerful tool is the Opportunity Zone program.

The basic goal of the Opportunity Zone program is to unlock unrealized capital gains being held by companies and individuals and direct that capital towards businesses and projects in certain distressed areas. This is accomplished by incentivizing prospective investors to sell appreciated property and reinvest the gains into qualified Opportunity Zone projects through offering attractive tax incentives—three tax incentives to be precise.Continue Reading Opportunity Zones: What is All the Fuss About?

Sills Cummis has learned that later today the Internal Revenue Service will be releasing the long-awaited regulations for the new federal Opportunity Zone program together with a revenue ruling and a key document, the Form 8996 for self-certification by OZ funds.  Please return to this site over the weekend and beyond for a continually-updated summary

The federal opportunity zone program offers the potential for directing new and significant capital investment to some of the country’s areas in need of development.  When describing the program, we have referred to it as the next big thing in economic development that could usher in the greatest transfer of wealth this country has seen in decades. However, as federal regulators continue to delay in issuing any meaningful guidance, many investors, fund managers and project developers are waiting on the sidelines until some of the biggest questions and uncertainties surrounding the program get resolved. Furthermore, as more examples are fleshed out and discussed amongst practitioners, investing in a Qualified Opportunity Fund may not be the optimal investment strategy for certain taxpayers depending on the specific facts involved. This is particularly true in the case of taxpayers who own appreciated real estate; for them, 1031 like-kind exchanges may still be more attractive.
Continue Reading Opportunity Zones—Curb Your Enthusiasm (Maybe…)

As seen on: HousingFinance.com
By: Catalina Vielma

Opportunity Zones have officially become the industry’s buzz phrase for 2018. Since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we have watched governors designate which census tracts they want to favor and listened as the states forecast the potential impact on their local economy. As I

As seen on: ROI-NJ.com
By: Tom Bergeron

In this ROI-NJ interview, Sills Cummis’ Ted Zangari and Jaime Reichardt share their insights on the recently enacted federal Opportunity Zone Program.


Ted Zangari, chair of the Redevelopment Law Practice Group at Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. in Newark, is one of the most prominent public incentives and