Privately-held real estate investment management firm Bridge Investment Group says it has put $1.3 billion into its Opportunity Zone strategy.
Much of the capital has already been deployed to 26 assets in 17 US markets, the company said.
“Bridge continues to see tremendous opportunity in these development projects which are expected to provide meaningful impact on the areas in which capital is invested,” said Bridge Investment chairman Bob Morse in prepared remarks.
The federal Opportunity Zone program was started as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Qualified Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities where certain new investments can receive preferential tax treatment.
For its OZ investments, Bridge has put money into development and redevelopment projects, the company said.
“Given that all Opportunity Zones are not created equal, Bridge is leveraging its national footprint and local market knowledge to focus on Qualified Opportunity Zones at an inflection point or located inside of or within close proximity to high-growth markets in the United States,” according to the company.
Bridge is in the midst of a capital deployment of $4.5 billion. Through subsidiaries, the company has been investing in value-add multifamily housing properties.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, investment activity declined in qualified opportunity zones. That activity resumed during spring as investors pulled money from the stock market and placed it into commercial real estate investments, according to due diligence commercial real estate firm BBG.