New movie studio; city jail redevelopment; so long, Amsterdam Walk?

VIRGINIA-HIGHLAND—Days could be numbered for a pioneering property in Atlanta’s adaptive-reuse scene.

Two years after Halpern Enterprises—the owners of Amsterdam Walk for nearly four decades—launched an initiative called “Reimagine Amsterdam Walk” to let Atlantans chime in about the property’s future, Portman Holdings hopes to purchase and redevelop the 9-acre shopping center, taking advantage of its prime-time frontage on the BeltLine’s Northeast Trail and Piedmont Park.

As the AJC reports, while all plans are preliminary, Portman aims to raze Amsterdam Walk’s current structures to set the stage for new commercial space (some of it meeting affordable leasing standards) and apartments. Current zoning would allow for more than 1 million square feet of commercial space; for context, Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta’s tallest building, has 1.3-million square feet. But one Portman official told the AJC they’re leaning toward more residential at this point.

Echoing Portman’s tactics with its Ponce-fronting development along the Eastside Trail, development heads say they’ll walk away from the potential deal if they can’t reach common ground with surrounding neighborhoods—a collaborative process that’s expected to start next week. Officials with the BeltLine, Invest Atlanta, Atlanta Botanical Garden, and others are reportedly on board with Portman’s plans, provided affordability requirements are met.

Originally home to the Campbell Coal Company warehouses, the Amsterdam Walk district reopened as shops in the 1990s and was given its current name more than two decades ago. Halpern officials say existing tenants would be given priority in the new development, provided they meet disadvantaged business qualifications.