VIRGINIA-HIGHLAND—Despite pushback from neighbors who’ve mounted yard-sign campaigns and an online petition, Portman’s proposed redevelopment of Beltline-adjacent Amsterdam Walk has cleared final hurdles before the Atlanta City Council weighs in. 

On Monday and Tuesday, two city council committees moved approvals forward for land use and zoning, the last being a 5-0 “no recommendation” vote by Atlanta’s Community Development/Human Services Committee, as Atlanta News First relays. 

How the project would look when approaching from the Beltline's Northeast Trail. SOM architects/Portman Holdings

The full council is expected to vote on Portman’s development—shrunk in height and scope from original designs, but still 1.18 million square feet overall, with as many as 1,100 apartments and other uses—during an April 21 meeting. 

If approved, the long-planned reimagining of Amsterdam Walk would roll out in phases, alongside a new stretch of the Beltline’s Northeast Trail. 

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

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ALPHARETTA—Specifics aren’t exactly plentiful, but there’s new hope afoot for Alpharetta’s aging and emptying North Point Mall, a 1990s relic that joins a number of dying metro Atlanta malls awaiting revival. As Appen Media reports, the Alpharetta City Council this week unanimously approved a new $200,000 redevelopment plan for the broader area—the North Point Development Framework—that aims to help guide developers and grease the wheels of the mall’s mixed-use makeover, though no specific proposals are active. 

North Point redevelopment plans put together by Texas-based Trademark Property Company, expected to cost $500 million, were ultimately rejected by city leaders, who feared the developer wasn't committed to building anything beyond rental housing. 

How the initial phase of North Point Mall multifamily construction was expected to fit into the district, per early renderings. Courtesy of Trademark Property Company; designs, Torti Gallas + Partners

According to city officials, a MARTA hub remains a possibility, and the vague mega-project anchored by an NHL hockey arena is apparently still on the table. One Alpharetta development official enthused this week that North Point is the best redevelopment site in North Fulton County—if not all of metro Atlanta.  

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GEORGIA TECH—How’s this for adaptive-reuse? Jud Ready, a principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, looked to an unlikely source for building a needed bridge at Buckhead’s Beaverbrook Park (down the street from Bobby Jones Golf Course) near his home. 

Backed with a Park Pride grant and other funding sources, Ready helped design and build a pedestrian bridge in the park that uses a decommissioned blade from a wind turbine as a structural element, the school reports. The 7,000-pound blade was trucked across the country from Colorado and installed early this month. Move over, shipping containers repurposed as housing. 

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