PARKERSBURG — Half a dozen of the new federally designated Opportunity Zones in West Virginia are in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Fifty-five zones were announced last week by Gov. Jim Justice and U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. R-W.Va. A provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Qualified Opportunity Zones offer tax incentives to promote private investment in economically distressed areas.

Two of the designated zones are in Parkersburg: from the downtown central business district north to Vienna and east along Seventh Street toward West Virginia 47.

“This is a great opportunity for the City of Parkersburg and greater Mid-Ohio Valley,” Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said in a press release. “It’s another tool that we and our development partners can use to attract private investment to the community.”

The legislation allows for the establishment of Qualified Opportunity Funds, investment vehicles set up as partnerships or corporations. Investors in the funds can defer taxes on prior gains until as late as Dec. 31, 2026, as long as the gains are reinvested in the fund.

“From what we know right now, investors who hold their investment for 10 years or more will see the most benefit,” Lindsey Piersol, executive director of Wood County Economic Development, said in the release.

Sites in Tyler and Wetzel counties were included in the designations, along with two in Jackson County, one in the City of Ravenswood and the other along the Ohio River from the Kanawha County line north to Ravenswood.

Mark Whitley, executive director of the Jackson County Development Authority, said the latter area includes the Jackson County Industrial Park and the former Century Aluminum site, which is being renovated by New Jersey-based Applied Partners Inc. The tax incentives could make those areas more attractive, while also potentially impacting existing entities like Constellium, he said.

“(Those are) the type of incentives that would really help spur private investment,” Whitley said.

Whitley and other local officials said they plan to learn more about the Opportunity Zones program, which was introduced with the tax legislation passed in December. Whitley will attend training on it next month in Washington, D.C.

***

Mid-Ohio Valley Opportunity Zones

* Parkersburg — Downtown Central Business District.

* Parkersburg — Mixed manufacturing, commercial and residential areas near U.S. 50 and the Little Kanawha River.

* Jackson County — Developable land including Jackson County Industrial Park.

* Jackson County — City of Ravenswood.

* Tyler County — Developable sites near Paden City Industrial Park near the Ohio River.

* Wetzel County — Center of shale gas exploration and production.