Bridge Investment met its $500M Opportunity Zone fund goal. Now what?

Bridge Investment Group said it had raised $509 million through its Opportunity Zone fund, becoming one of the few big firms to meet its fund-raise goal for the federal tax incentive program that targets development projects in distressed areas.

The company announced on Tuesday it had pooled money from 500 investors, and will seek real estate projects nationwide, according to Bloomberg. The fund plans to invest in 12 developments across eight cities, including Queens, N.Y., where Willets Point has seen the most Opportunity Zone activity in the five boroughs. Other areas will include developments in Sacramento and Salt Lake City, where Bridge is headquartered, along with California and Nevada.

Bridge, which has $16 billion in assets and 33,500 multifamily units, launched its $500 million Opportunity Zone fund in October. Other firms that launch similar funds include Related Companies, Brookfield Asset Management and Blackstone Group.

Bridge said it plans to roll out another Opportunity Zone fund in the second half of this year, and a third in 2020.

The fund announcement comes after new rules for the program were released in April. The Opportunity Zone program gives long-term investors tax breaks for developing in distressed areas across the U.S. There are 8,700 designated Opportunity Zones. Under the new rules, investors have to invest by the end of 2019 to get the biggest tax break. [Bloomberg] — Georgia Kromrei