Immediate Release: June 11th, 2019
Calumet Region, IL/IN – Brownfieldlistings.com and Calumet Collaborative are proud to put on the country's first open pitch competition for redevelopment projects in Opportunity Zones (OZs) at the Brownfield and Opportunity Zone Bootcamp hosted by University of Illinois Chicago on June 19th. The pitch competition will follow a unique, day-long event curated by Brownfieldlistings.com that will explore sustainable long-term investment in underinvested communities designated as Opportunity Zones, a new federal tax incentive program, with educational programming and networking sessions. Whereas investors and developers avoided Brownfields in the past, OZs may help change that and provide some additional motivation for cleanup. "Now you might want a few environmental issues," says BrownfieldListings.com CEO Dan French "to buy your overall OZ project some extra time while you do some environmental investigation and remediation on the hotspot." Calumet Collaborative was eager to partner with Brownfieldlistings.com on the pitch competition, as Brownfieldlistings.com is an invaluable resource that connects key stakeholders in the nation-wide redevelopment marketplace. “We’re honored to partner with Brownfieldlistings.com on the pitch competition - Brownfieldlistings.com puts on amazing events that connect people that usually aren’t able to get into the same room, and the outcomes are tremendous. It’s the shared value of in-person connections that motivated us to support this event and we can’t wait to see the benefits of those connections come to life beyond the pitch competition,” says Sarah Coulter, Executive Director of Calumet Collaborative. "The creativity of the Calumet Collaborative helped spark that idea that made the Bootcamp's pitch competition possible, and its most capable contributions since then have helped shape it into the immediate success it is,” says French. “That it's drawn such strong regional and national interest is a signal that there's something very substantial stirring Opportunity Zones across the country." This exciting competition gives finalists a chance to tune up their pitching skills in front of an expert judge’s panel and audience containing real estate investors, developers, communities, corporations, landowners, and more. Finalists can win a share of publicity, prizes and actionable project interest. Sites within the Calumet region will pitch amongst finalists from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wyoming and places in between. Calumet Collaborative also believes the educational aspects of the Bootcamp are important for their network, as the Calumet region contains a number of OZs - over a fifth of Chicago’s OZs fall in Chicago’s far southeast side, and OZs range from south Cook County into Indiana along Lake County’s Lake Michigan Waterfront, in Valparaiso, and in LaPorte County’s Michigan City. The educational program will provide the much-needed informative sessions on this new and somewhat complicated federal tax incentive program, and features over 15 experts on OZs and Brownfields. Participants can expect to learn about development in OZs, building an OZ Prospectus, redeveloping contaminated land, how to successfully engage communities in redevelopment, and more. Those interested can register for the Bootcamp at events.brownfieldlistings.com. By partnering with Brownfieldlistings.com on this event, Calumet Collaborative hopes to shine a spotlight on the Calumet region, which is full of, as the program rightfully designates it, opportunity. --- BrownfieldListings.com connects buyers and redevelopment experts with sellers or property owners looking to remediate and redevelop their property. To sign up for the Brownfield and Opportunity Zone Bootcamp, please visit https://events.brownfieldlistings.com/brownfield-opportunity-zone-bootcamp-chicago/ For more information on the Brownfields & Opportunity Zone Bootcamp and pitch competition, please email info@brownfieldlistings.com. Calumet Collaborative catalyzes innovative partnerships between Illinois and Indiana community, government, business and nonprofit stakeholders to advance a thriving Calumet region through sustainable development. For more information on Calumet Collaborative, please contact: Ashley Hodges ashley@calumetcollaborative.org (708) 297-9162 ext 701
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