TWIN FALLS, Idaho — A Twin Falls food hall welcomed some high-profile visitors this week as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Sen. Mike Crapo toured the facility to celebrate a successful opportunity zone investment.
The 2nd South Food Hall, which opened in 2020, was the first opportunity zone project in Idaho. The program, part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, allows investors to redirect capital gains into development projects rather than paying taxes.
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"There's been almost $90 billion in private money — 90 billion with a B — that's been invested in rural, and urban, and tribal opportunities to create new operating businesses to create new housing, new jobs, families," Turner said.
For owners Gary and Lisa Buddecke, the opportunity zone designation made their vision possible.
"We took a big risk to see if this was going to work," Gary Buddecke said.
Lisa Buddecke explained that the building caught their eye, but financing initially seemed impossible.
"We saw the building, we knew it was here, but we didn't think we could make the investment because we had to pay the capital gains taxes on the property that we had sold," she said.
The opportunity zone program has now been incorporated into what officials call the "One Big Beautiful Bill."
Crapo praised the initiative during his visit.
"These are the kinds of things that we need the federal government to lead out in and helping communities like this expand like this opportunity we saw here today," Crapo said.
Turner, who previously oversaw the opportunity zone program and now serves as HUD Secretary, said his department is focused on addressing housing shortages.
"We need about 7 million units of housing. We are working hard to do what we can to be intentional to make our housing affordable again. We're bringing down burdensome regulations. Burdensome regulations cripple development," Turner said.
Following the food hall visit, Turner's tour of the Magic Valley continued with a stop at the Self-Help Housing Program in Filer.
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