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Alex Flachsbart gives a presentation on opportunity zones in Athens, Alabama. Photographer: Nicole Craine/Bloomberg When he read about opportunity zones in a 2017 draft of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, his mind reeled. Here was an uncapped subsidy far more flexible than anything he’d used before. It could draw investment for an array of projects. He imagined funding startups in Huntsville, where NASA’s presence has lured a deep bench of talented engineers, and the renovation of an old civic complex in Mobile. Flachsbart’s nonprofit—which has board members from the state’s largest utility and its biggest bank, Regions Financial Corp.—is now in talks for 10 potential projects that need more than $100 million in equity investment, he said. None have been funded yet, but he’s certain some will be. Meanwhile, he keeps driving. Baltimore Billionaire One of the arguments over opportunity zones is whether the U.S. is handing wealthy investors and companies big breaks on projects they would’ve done anyway. One example: Hedge fund executive and former White House spokesman Anthony Scaramucci plans to build a “swank, boutique hotel” in Oakland. The paperwork for the permit was filed months before the neighborhood was designated an opportunity zone. But that project pales in comparison to what’s happening in Baltimore. More than a year before President Donald Trump signed the law, real estate developer Steven Siegel helped negotiate one of the largest public financing deals of its kind for a client, a company owned by billionaire Kevin Plank, founder of athletic-wear maker Under Armour Inc. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_016416