New National Community Investment Tool Introduced in Watertown
WATERTOWN, S.D. – A new national community investment tool that connects private capital with low-income communities across America to provide new investments, new business, and better paying jobs has made its way into Watertown by a fund set up by an area developer.
The JASK SD, LLC is an Opportunity Fund, sponsored by Jesse Craig of Craig Companies in Fargo, N.D.
JASK SD, LLC was created as part of the Opportunity Zones Incentive – a new community investment tool established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. Opportunity Zones provide a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into dedicated Opportunity Funds.
Opportunity Zones are areas of a community where low-income census tracts are nominated by governors and certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury into which investors can now put capital to work financing new projects and enterprises in exchange for certain federal capital gains tax advantages. The United States has over 8,700 Opportunity Zones in every state and territory.
Watertown has one area designated as an Opportunity Zone. The area spans from 3rd Avenue NW near Riverside Park, down 1st Avenue to 19th Street NE, South stopping at Highway 212, West to Kemp Avenue and ends North at 3rd Avenue NW.
Jesse Craig explained, “Many small communities have been passed over by economic growth and forgotten. This new formula for public and private sectors to work together to generate new investments, new businesses, and new good paying jobs in places that have fallen behind harnesses much-needed private capital to flow to communities and empower local leaders to build a more prosperous community.”
The Lofts, a project that already has its ownership structure in place and has started under the operation of Jesse Craig of Craig Companies, is an example of a mixed-use project currently under construction in a designated Opportunity Zone in Watertown. Upon completion, it will have thirty-nine residential units and 8,000 square feet of commercial space for lease.
The Opportunity Zones concept was originally introduced in a 2015 paper, “Unlocking Private Capital to Facilitate Economic Growth in Distressed Areas,” to help address the persistent poverty and uneven recovery that left too many American communities behind. The idea has since been supported by a wide-ranging coalition of investors, entrepreneurs, community developers, economists, and other stakeholders.
Two projects are in the works for Craig Companies under the JASK SD Opportunity Fund in the near future. Craig is planning a new apartment building which is currently in the design stage, and another apartment building with mixed-use that is currently in the development stage.
To become involved in the JASK SD, LLC Opportunity Fund, contact fund sponsor Jesse Craig at 605 868 8330 or visit their website at https://www.livingwatertown.com/
Story courtesy Watertown Development Company
