City Greenlights 1.2M SF Amsterdam Walk Redo Despite Opposition

The Atlanta City Council has finally granted approval to Portman Holdings for the redevelopment of Amsterdam Walk into an expansive mixed-use project with 1,100 housing units.

The council voted 8 to 6 Monday to rezone the 11-acre retail center near Piedmont Park along the Atlanta BeltLine off Amsterdam Avenue near Monroe Drive. The approval of the 1.2M SF redevelopment plan comes after more than two years of back-and-forth between city officials, Portman, neighborhood activists and residents.

In addition to the housing, of which between 220 and 240 units would be income-restricted, Portman plans to develop 150K SF of new commercial and retail space, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

Portman will now engage in at least a 16-month process to design the new Amsterdam Walk and figure out how it will engage with the BeltLine, Senior Vice President Mike Greene told Bisnow Tuesday.

"To really make that place what we want it to be — really special — it's going to take a lot of design work," Greene said. "The weight is on us to make sure that we deliver something special."

Residents and activists voiced a litany of concerns over the project in the lead-up to the vote, including opposition to its density and fears that the project, which will add more than 1,400 parking spaces, would worsen congestion along Monroe Drive.

Charlie Kaften, who heads a local opposition group called A Better Amsterdam Walk, told Bisnow Tuesday that the scale of the project, with only one roadway in and out, "makes no sense."

"Yesterday, the City Council turned its back on the citizens of Atlanta," Kaften wrote in an email. "It is not smart. It is not sensible. It is not sustainable. It is totally car-centric. The Monroe Drive corridor will become more of a death trap than it already is."

Portman’s plans also faced opposition from Neighborhood Planning Unit F, the Virginia-Highland, Morningside/Lenox Park and Ansley Park civic associations. The Atlanta Zoning Review Board also recommended denying the project, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. Atlanta City Council Member Alex Wan, whose district includes Amsterdam Walk, voted against the rezoning Monday.

Greene said the opposition that showed up at the council meeting Monday was a "small minority" of the entire neighborhoods around Amsterdam Walk, groups he said he tried to work with over the past two years, but with whom he could not come to a consensus.

"I learned that the hard way," Greene said. "I was responsive in the beginning to their concerns."

Portman adjusted the plans to accommodate feedback from some activists, but "after four or five times, they kept moving the goalpost," Greene said.

"When they got to the point that anything I said they thought was a lie, I realized there’s no path forward to a resolution here," he said. 

Amsterdam Walk's previous zoning would have allowed the developer to build a project even more dense than what was approved. Portman scaled back its initial vision of the redevelopment, which spanned 1.5M SF and included an office building, which would have been permitted under its previous zoning.

"Not only were they never going to be satisfied, they never truly did comprehend the reality of the existing project. It's not about what it looks like today. It's about what it can be in the future," he said. "My future is a heck of a lot more residential and softer on traffic."

Greene said Portman would continue to consult with neighborhood groups during the design phase to get input on what retailers would be most welcomed to the area.

Portman is under contract to purchase Amsterdam Walk from the current landlord, Halpern Enterprises, later this year. The terms of that deal haven't been disclosed.