High Point is preparing for a renewed version of the opportunity zones program.
The federal initiative was created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It provides incentives to those who invest in designated census tracts with lower-income communities.
High Point Economic Development Director Peter Bishop said in a city council special meeting on Monday that the first version of the program also allowed states to select some areas that were otherwise ineligible.
“A lot of money flowed into those adjacent tracts, which in many cases were in emerging markets, or already gentrifying areas that were seeing a lot of investment," Bishop said.
But he added that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year, has stricter requirements.
The city is now proposing that several census tracts in the downtown area around Washington Street, Qubein Avenue and Truist Point Stadium be part of the next iteration of the program.
The suggestions will go to Gov. Josh Stein, who can nominate a quarter of North Carolina’s eligible locations beginning in July.