Site Selection Webpage

Site Selection

The City of Columbus is committed to helping companies find appropriate facilities for doing business in the city. The Economic Development Division can access and search a comprehensive site and building inventory database, which includes office suites, buildings, and properties that are currently available for sale or lease.

The Division can create custom-tailored reports for users that have specific project parameters or requirements using this resource.  The services of the Division are available at no cost to the user.

Columbus Metro Area

The Columbus metropolitan area consists of the counties of Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Madison, Pickaway and Fairfield.  Current population estimate is approximately 1.8 million people.

Proximity

Located within 500 miles of New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta and other important locations, our regional access to major population centers of the United States gives the city a distinct advantage to travelers and distribution operations.

More than 15,000 truck movements originate or terminate daily in Greater Columbus. Over 160 direct flights are available from John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Rickenbacker International Airport has a foreign trade zone and numerous warehouse options.

Columbus freeways include I-71, I-70 (a major east-west interstate), I-270 and I-670.  It is also one hour from Interstate 75, which serves markets such as Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Miami.

Commute time in Columbus averages slightly over 20 minutes, one of the best nationwide.

Columbus is at the crossroads of interstate highways I-70 and I-71, connecting to the Interstate grid. The area has more than 140 trucking companies, 30 of which offer nationwide service.

Proximity by Air

Columbus is served by Port Columbus International Airport, which currently offers over 150 non-stop flights to 33 cities.  Eleven major carriers provide direct flights to locations such as Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Miami and Las Vegas.  Close to many population centers in the eastern United States, Columbus is a major logistics and distribution location.

Rickenbacker International Airport is an international multi-modal cargo airport, a charter passenger terminal and offers a foreign trade zone for international cargo.

For more information visit columbusairports.com. Each ring is 500 miles or one hour travel by air.

Transportation

Columbus' excellent location allows the city to be a major logistics and distribution center. The region has access to excellent rail and air service, making Columbus your best option for distribution. 

Opportunity Zones

What are opportunity zones?

Qualified Opportunity Zones are a new community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This program encourages new, long-term investment in property or businesses in specific areas around the City through federal tax incentives for investors. To take advantage of the program, investors must reinvest new capital gains into Qualified Opportunity Funds which are spent in Qualified Opportunity Zones.

What are capital gains?

A capital gain happens when you sell something for more than you bought it for. Buy a used car for $1,000 and sell it for $2,000 a week later, and you have a $1,000 capital gain—same as if you bought stock for $1,000 and sold it for $2,000. Just about everything you or a company owns qualifies as a capital asset that could create a capital gain— whether it as an investment, such as stocks or property, or was bought for personal or company use, such as a car or a big-screen TV.

How do investors invest in an opportunity zone and what are qualified opportunity funds?

Investments in Opportunity Zones must be made through Qualified Opportunity Funds. There are very few limitations on what kinds of organizations can create and manage an Opportunity Fund, though it must be created as either a partnership or a corporation, and the Fund must be established and managed according to regulations created by the United States Department of Treasury.

What does the Opportunity Zone Program mean for me?

As a Business Owner

If you are a business owner currently in an Opportunity Zone or thinking about relocating to one, the program provides two major benefits:

Attracting Investors – Your location offers potential investors significant tax incentives for investing in your business through Qualified Opportunity Funds, for example, as a repayable loan to purchase new machinery or a long-term equity investment for a share of your business. Whether you chose to set up a Fund, talk to existing investors, or approach other Funds, the program increases the marketability of your business to attract new capital.

Investing in Yourself – If, as a business owner, you or your company has new capital gains, the program and Qualified Opportunity Funds provide a chance to earn the federal tax incentives while making needed investments in your business.

As a property owner

If you are a property owner currently in an Opportunity Zone, the program increases the marketability of your property. Whether it is an investor looking to purchase your house or land, or a business interested in leasing space in your building, this program offers significant benefits you should be aware of:

Investors – For the person or company looking to purchase your property, they are able to gain the federal tax benefits by making the purchase through a Qualified Opportunity Fund, increasing the value of the investment in your property.

Tenants – For the business interested in leasing space from you, they are able to attract and make investments from Funds due to their location in an Opportunity Zone, increasing the marketability of their business.

As an Investor

If you are investing in a property or business in an Opportunity Zone, the program offers three main benefits:

• A temporary tax deferral for capital gains reinvested in an Opportunity Fund.
• A step-up in basis for capital gains reinvested in an Opportunity Fund:
• 10% basis increase if the investment is held for at least 5 years and 15% if held for at least 7 years.
• A permanent exclusion from taxable income of capital gains from the sale or exchange of a qualified fund investment if it is held for at least 10 years.