LA PLATA — Investors who steer capital gains into parts of Waldorf and the Newburg-Morgantown area will qualify for federal tax breaks beginning Jan. 1, after three Charles County census tracts landed on Maryland’s new list of Opportunity Zones.
Charles County Government announced the designations Monday. Two of the tracts sit in Waldorf’s primary growth area and take in portions of the Waldorf Urban Redevelopment Corridor. The third covers the Newburg-Morgantown area, including the former Morgantown Generating Station on the Potomac River.
The label does not fund or approve a single project. It makes private investment inside those lines eligible for tax advantages, and whether money follows is up to investors, developers and property owners.
“Opportunity Zones represent a significant economic development tool to attract private capital to support a wide range of investments,” Commissioner President Reuben B. Collins II said in the county’s announcement.
How the tax break works
Under the federal program, someone who sells stock, real estate or another asset at a profit can roll that gain into a Qualified Opportunity Fund. The fund, in turn, must keep at least 90% of its holdings in designated zones, according to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. In exchange, the investor can put off the tax bill on the original gain and, by holding the new investment for at least 10 years, avoid federal tax on its growth.
Congress rewrote the program in 2025 and required every governor to submit a fresh set of tracts. The state housing department, acting for Gov. Wes Moore, sent 114 to the U.S. Treasury, which released the official designations Nov. 5. The new zones take effect Jan. 1, 2027, and last 10 years.
That is a smaller map than the first round. Maryland had 149 zones under the original 2018 designations, and the state could name only a quarter of the roughly 450 tracts that met the new income and poverty tests.
Five were eligible. Three made it.
County staff told commissioners in June that five Charles tracts qualified under the new rules: three in Waldorf, one in Indian Head and one in the Newburg-Morgantown area. Paul W. Ruppert, senior commercial development manager, and Tony Felts, assistant chief of planning, said then that the Waldorf tracts offered the strongest redevelopment prospects, while Indian Head and Newburg could draw investment tied to defense, energy, tourism and the waterfront, as the Chronicle reported at the time.
The final list leaves out one of the eligible Waldorf tracts and Indian Head. The town was one of the county’s three original zones in 2018, alongside both sides of U.S. 301 in Waldorf from the county line to Berry Road, according to the Economic Development Department.
A tract-by-tract list published by the industry site OpportunityZones.com identifies the designated Charles tracts as 8508.02, 8509.01 and 8512. The same list shows two designated tracts in St. Mary’s County and none in Calvert. Maryland’s housing department has posted an interactive map of all 114.
What the county expects
In Waldorf, the county said the designation opens the door to mixed-use and commercial projects and builds on earlier infrastructure spending and planning tied to the proposed Southern Maryland Rapid Transit corridor.
At Morgantown, the county said the former power plant property could support new industrial uses and advanced manufacturing, and that zone status may widen the pool of investors and attract suppliers, related industries and tourism businesses. The site has already been a flashpoint this year: TeraWulf’s plans there won a federal approval in August while opposition continued.
“These designations support the County’s ongoing efforts to advance redevelopment, support existing businesses, encourage entrepreneurship and attract investment across the county,” Economic Development Director Jim Chandler said in the announcement. He said the department will keep working with state agencies, developers and site selectors to market the areas.
Those outcomes are the county’s goals, not commitments from any company. The first round of zones drew criticism nationally for steering benefits to places that were already attracting development, one reason Congress tightened eligibility for the second.
Businesses, property owners, developers and investors can reach the Economic Development Department at CommercialDevelopment@MeetCharlesCounty.com before the new zones take effect Jan. 1.
