Opportunity zones are one of Tim Scott’s signature initiatives, but how successful are they?
A ribbon is cut during an opening celebration at Peak Drift Brewing in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 18, 2023. - Tracy Glantz/The Island Packet/TNS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia’s Middleton family, leading developers in the downtown area in recent years, made a sizable profit when they sold their share in a local hospice business two years ago. Rather than pocket the income, the family invested those earnings in one of their biggest development ventures to date: a 65,000-square-foot production brewery and restaurant north of downtown. Downtown’s Main Street is packed with Middleton businesses, including a boutique bowling alley, a dueling piano bar and a hibachi restaurant. But the family chose to locate Peak Drift Brewery somewhere less flas...