Amsterdam Walk has been one of those quirky in-between places Atlanta does well: a 19th-century industrial strip off Monroe Drive that turned into a low-key hub of local businesses, with Red Light Café anchoring the scene since the 1990s. Urbanize Atlanta's Josh Green reports that era is ending. A recent business closure, notices to vacate, and now a phase one site plan filed with the city's Department of City Planning all point to Portman Holdings moving forward with a full redevelopment.
The filing makes the strategy clear. Phase one would replace a majority, if not all, of the buildings currently operating at Amsterdam Walk. The Sean's Harvest Market there recently closed, and the new plan is designed to maximize the site's proximity to the Eastside Trail while taking shape away from most of the existing homes nearby. In other words, density facing the BeltLine, buffer facing the neighbors.
For anyone who has walked or biked the Eastside Trail, this is a big one. Amsterdam Walk sits in that Virginia-Highland and Piedmont Heights seam where the trail, Piedmont Park, and a wall of new development all converge. Whatever Portman builds here will set the tone for one of the most heavily trafficked stretches of the corridor, and it will mean saying goodbye to a batch of independent businesses that gave the spot its personality.
