NFL player LeSean McCoy is looking at life beyond the field and aiming to build a real estate empire using opportunity zones.
McCoy currently has 60 properties, some operating under his Vice Capital real estate firm. Launched in 2018, Vice Capital develops properties using opportunity zones — an economic development tool that allows people to invest in distressed areas. The legislation for opportunity zones came out of the federal 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. U.S. senators including Sen. Cory Booker, (D-NJ) and Sen. Tim Scott, (R-SC) supported the legislation.
“Now being in my 12th year in the league, looking at all the investments I’ve made from the good to the bad, I think I’ve learned,” said McCoy in a CNBC interview.
McCoy, 32, has earned $63 million during his career, according to Spotrac.
Signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, McCoy recently won his second Super Bowl ring. He uses his offseason downtime work on his real estate developments, operating Vice Capital with his brother, LeRon McCoy.
“We’re still starting up, but that is the main goal,” LeSean said. Another mission, he said, is to help NFL players learn “how to make money other than just playing football.”
After researching legislation and identifying tax exemptions, LeSean said he realized it was a “win-win.”
“And on the other side, as a humanitarian, you’re able to affect certain communities that need that change,” LeRon said. “Those are usually inner-city areas.”
The brothers’ properties include buildings in their hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia where LeSean played football with the Philadelphia Eagles for six seasons. They also have properties in New Jersey, Florida, Maryland and North Carolina, Architectural Digest reported.
They have developed a variety of properties, from apartment buildings to commercial spaces.
The brothers purchased and began renovating a dilapidated 19th-century mansion and hotel in a historic area of Harrisburg that had once been a Black business district but has fallen into ruin.
“Before the civil rights movement, there was an area where all the Black businesses thrived,” LeRon told Architectural Digest. “Over the years, things happened and the properties became run down. So we decided to help rebuild it, put businesses back onto this street, and restore it to its original glory. Now others have caught on and people are investing in this block.”
“We want to build that empire in real estate,” LeSean said.
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LeRon is a former NFL player who played for the 2005 season with the Arizona Cardinals. He was also a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, and California Redwoods. LeSean has played 12 seasons, was selected to six Pro Bowls and was on the Kansas City Chiefs team that won Super Bowl LIV.
