On Thursday, the Invest Atlanta board of directors greenlit a bond resolution that will give a nearly $15 million tax break to Portman Holding’s controversial Amsterdam Walk redevelopment.
According to Invest Atlanta Senior Vice President of Community Development Phil Perkins, the developers will only pay $39 million in taxes for the first 10 years, compared to what would have been $54 million.
The money will cover supposed lost revenue on Portman’s end. The developers are preserving 39 of the 539 apartments, about 7 percent of the total units, at 80 percent of the Area Median Income for the next 198 years. (An individual earning 80 percent AMI would make about $64,000 a year.)
Portman estimates the move will cost more than $225 million in potential rent over the next 99 years alone.
It comes a year after Invest Atlanta greenlit $19.3 million in tax-exempt bond financing, and $2 million in Beltline Tax Allocation District grant dollars for 135 multifamily units. Those units will be set at 50 percent to 80 percent of the AMI.
Portman representatives said the project will fall well within Beltline affordable housing requirements. Atlanta requires Beltline-adjacent properties to set aside 10 percent of units at or below 60 percent AMI, or 15 percent of units at or below 80 percent AMI. Developers can also pay a one-time fee to forgo affordable housing requirements.
The Amsterdam Walk redevelopment will include 135 units at 60 percent AMI, alongside the 39 affordable units from the 539 total apartments. Representatives said in total about 25 percent of the total units would be affordable — ”significantly above and beyond” the requirements.
In total, the 11-acre property has been rezoned for up to 1,100 apartments and about 150,000 square feet of commercial space across both phases, as well as several public plazas.
The affordability argument was enough for Invest Atlanta to approve the bond issuance in a 6-2 vote. But not everyone was on board. Several neighborhood representatives took to public comment and shared their disapproval at the meeting.
“I want to tell this board that it should stop now, today, throwing money at the Amsterdam Walk project,” Amsterdam Walk resident Ben Terry said.
He said Portman’s approach isn’t the right way to handle traffic, a fraught component of the original plan, or affordability. Another resident questioned if the developers would follow through on more affordable housing for the next phase.
The vocal group of opponents has pushed against the redevelopment since it began, citing traffic concerns, too much project density and rezoning controversy. The project notably did not receive endorsements from Neighborhood Planning Unit F or the Morningside-Lenox Park Association, though Perkins said Virginia Highland Civic Association gave “some positive support.”
At the Invest Atlanta meeting, the opposition boiled down to more tax dollars for an already controversial project.
“If you give property tax breaks to developers, that means less revenue for the city, and eventually it will trickle down to taxpayers and citizens footing the bill,” opposition leader Charlie Kaften said.
Atlanta Public Schools Vice Chair Ken Zeff agreed. He is also a member of the Invest Atlanta board, and voted against the bond issuance because of the tax burdens — an estimated $7 million of the tax break would have gone to APS funding.
“I think that gives me great pause,” he said.
