U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS—Governor Albert Bryan Jr. is expanding opportunities for small businesses in the Territory.
Recently the governor signed an order expanding Enterprise Zones on St. Thomas. He also traveled to Miami to present at the NAI Miami’s 6th Annual Florida and Caribbean Forum to tell investors, developers and realtors about Qualified Opportunity Zone Investment in the USVI.
The Governor’s executive order expands the enterprise zones in the Savan-Downstreet neighborhood and in the Garden Street-Upstreet neighborhood.
Enterprise zones are determined by the level of poverty in a census tract or census block and an area that is determined to be an enterprise zone then qualifies for Enterprise Zone Program benefits and increases access to Community Development Block Grant and New Markets Tax Credits programs.
In his executive order, Governor Bryan said it was necessary for him to expand the enterprise zones in the Savan and Garden Street neighborhoods because of an increase in residential activity in those areas, which indicates an increase of individuals living below the poverty line.
The Governor’s executive order lays out in specific detail the exact boundaries of the expanded enterprise zones for Savan-Downstreet and Garden Street-Upstreet.
The Governor’s mandates of the executive order became effective on Friday, October 25, 2019.
Accompanying the Governor on the trip to the NAI Miami Forum on November 15 were Chief Legal Counsel David Bornn; V.I. Economic Development Authority Executive Director Kamal Latham, RT Park Executive Director Peter Chapman and other representatives of the Territory.
NAI Global is a leading global commercial real estate brokerage firm. NAI Global offices are leaders in their local markets and work in unison to provide clients with solutions to their commercial real estate needs. NAI Global has more than 375 offices strategically located throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, with 6,000 local market professionals, managing in excess of 1.15 billion square feet of property and facilities. Annually, NAI Global completes in excess of $20 billion in commercial real estate transactions throughout the world.
During the Forum, Governor Bryan, Attorney Bornn, Director Latham and Director Chapman conducted a panel discussion sponsored by the Duane Morris Law Firm to highlight the variety of commercial real estate opportunities and the benefits of investing in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
During his presentation, Governor Bryan discussed a variety of “stackable benefits,” that can be used in the U.S. Virgin Islands in addition to those arising from the capital gains tax deferment of the federal Qualified Opportunity Zone program. The Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) Program is the hottest federal investment program in the US in a long time. It seeks to utilize unrealized capital gains taxes for investment in economically depressed areas of the country.
The stackable benefits the Governor discussed include:
- The Economic Development Program
- The Enterprise Zone Program
- The Hotel Development Act
- Tax Increment Financing
- Historic Tax Credits
- The New Markets Tax Credit Program
- RT Park Benefits for tech and knowledge-based investments
“The presentation and panel discussion was very well-received. It generated significant excited interest among the attendees about the possibilities of investing in our Territory,” Governor Bryan said. “We’re looking forward to following up on lead-generation with some of the participants about their interest in working with the Government and local parties to fulfill investment options in the USVI.”