Keystone Opportunity Zone
Julie DeSeyn, URA

As many of you know, the City of Pittsburgh was successful in it's quest to establish a Keystone Opportunity Zone designation for several neighborhoods within the City earlier this year, including 44 parcels located in Hazelwood.

The Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) program was designed by the State to increase the economic value of specific properties by abating virtually all state and local taxes until 2010. The City of Pittsburghís KOZ includes properties in California Kirkbride, East Liberty, Hazelwood, the Hill District, Homewood, Mt. Washington (South Hills High School), and Uptown. In almost every neighborhood, the City's strategy was to focus on publicly owned properties, in order to minimize tax loss for the three taxing bodies. For example, only two properties (the Highland Building and the Liberty Building) are included in the KOZ in the entire neighborhood of East Liberty, both properties are owned by the City of Pittsburgh.

An exception was made in Hazelwood due to the impending redevelopment of the Hazelwood LTV plant and the critical need to link new development at that site to the neighborhood via a strong business district. The 44 KOZ-designated parcels in Hazelwood are located along Second Avenue between Minden and Flowers Streets, and include both publicly and privately owned properties. The Tax ID numbers of the included parcels are listed at the end of this article.

The tax benefits of the KOZ apply to three separate parties:
Owners of the properties - for whom property taxes can be abated.
Businesses that operate in a KOZ property - for whom state and local business taxes (and sales tax in some instances) can be abated.
Residents that reside in a KOZ property - for whom state or local income taxes can be abated.

In order to qualify for the abatement property owners need to show proof that their property is in compliance with zoning and building codes, and that they are current with all of their state and local tax obligations. Business owners and residents also need to show proof that they are current with all of their state and local tax obligations. Interested parties should contact Julie DeSeyn at the Urban Redevelopment Authority, (412) 255-6614, for more information.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority is also interested in purchasing properties from willing sellers in the Keystone Opportunity Zone area (Second Avenue between Minden and Flowers Streets) in order to assemble sites to attract new businesses.

For more information on business enterprise zones, click here.