Despite a naysaying yard-sign campaign, an online petition, Neighborhood Planning Unit F’s disdain, and more recently a formal, last-ditch neighborhood board letter calling for rejection, Portman Holdings' planned redevelopment of Beltline-adjacent Amsterdam Walk—a source of spirited debate over the past two and ½ years—has scored the city’s official approval.

After hearing from residents both passionately against and in favor of the 11-acre former warehouse remake, the Atlanta City Council on Monday green-lighted Portman’s plans by a slim eight-to-six margin, as Rough Draft Atlanta reports. 

The decision clears the way for Portman—a veteran Atlanta developer that’s helped reshape the city’s skyline and another section of Beltline-adjacent land with Junction Krog District—to start an Amsterdam Walk redevelopment process calling for up to 1,100 apartments. 

The multifaceted Amsterdam Walk proposal as of last year, following a revision process that subtracted height. SOM architects/Portman Holdings

The proposal from the same angle today, per current Portman Holdings plans. SOM architects/Portman Holdings

The council’s vote to rezone the property will allow for dense residential uses between Monroe Drive and the Beltline corridor. Also included in the 1.2-million-square-foot development will be public plazas and about 150,000 square feet of commercial and retail spaces. According to the AJC, somewhere between 220 and 240 of the apartments will be reserved as rentals below market rate, while about 19,000 square feet of retail will see a 30-percent discount for tenants at ground level. 

Councilmembers who voted against the rezoning were Liliana Bakhtiari, Michael Julian Bond, Mary Norwood, Marci Collier Overstreet, Alex Wan, and Matt Westmoreland, while Eshé Collins was absent, the newspaper relays. 

Neighbors in favor of blocking Portman’s plans have argued the lone artery in and out of Amsterdam Walk, Monroe Drive, is already unsafe and impassable with traffic clogs at certain times of day. Adding a "landlocked" project with 1,435 parking spaces—and an estimated 13 percent bump in daily car trips—would exacerbate the problem and impact quality of life, the petition asserted. 

The former warehouse district isn’t the bustling commercial and dining hub it used to be, but new segments of the Beltline’s Northeast Trail next door have boosted the location’s cachet. The petition described Portman’s proposal as the largest development neighborhoods Morningside-Lenox Park and Virginia-Highland have ever seen. 

Portman officials have said the project will roll out in phases, with construction timing still TBD, pending city approval.  

Despite the council’s decision, online rumblings following Monday’s meeting suggest Amsterdam Walk naysayers might not back quietly away from the issue: 

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