City economic development agency Invest Atlanta greenlit a $330 million lease-purchase bond for the controversial Amsterdam Walk project, marking another step towards the project’s completion — and another tax break.
In practice, the bond will lower property taxes for developers across 10 years. For the first year, property taxes will be priced at about 50 percent their usual rate, increasing by about 5 percent per year and ending up at “full taxes” by the end of 11 years.
Invest Atlanta leaders said it is to “support the financing” of a project with supposed major investment for the “desirable and established” Virginia-Highland neighborhood. The project comes with controversy, though.
Amsterdam Walk redevelopment opponents say the project is too dense, will increase traffic, cause rezoning issues and receive unearned tax breaks. The project has not received endorsements from Neighborhood Planning Unit F or the Morningside-Lenox Park Association.
The mixed-use development will ultimately create 539 multifamily units, with 39 designated affordable at 80 percent of the Area Median Income, or AMI. Developer Portman Holdings has said the affordability will last for 99 years.
According to Invest Atlanta leaders, that “significant commitment” equals about $225 million in lost revenue. The board also estimates the redevelopment will generate 275 permanent jobs, $34 million in “positive economic impact” and increase the land value by millions of dollars.
Atlanta Public Schools Vice Chair and Invest Atlanta Board Member Ken Zeff continued to oppose the tax break.
“I can’t support this item, to forgo public schools revenue in a cluster that’s already crowded,” he said, referring to lost property tax dollars.
Invest Atlanta President and CEO also presented an update on the Tax Allocation District Audit, released in June by the City Auditor’s office.
The June audit identified three recommendations to strengthen TAD performance and public transparency: creating more accessible reporting tools, aligning project-level reports with overall goals and improving “measurability” on redevelopment.
Klementich presented some of the agency’s changes at the October board meeting. “We really started to refocus on our redevelopment plan and our work,” she explained.
Since June, Invest Atlanta has collected all work records and statements to publish online — the economic development agency even created an interactive map for all TAD projects approved in the city.
Invest Atlanta also honed in on how to measure success. Klementich explained most Tax Allocation District work aimed to “promote economic growth.” But the auditors wanted specifics. Moving forward, Klementich said the goals should focus on quantities: “this many grocery stores, this many businesses.”
But the Invest Atlanta CEO said the agency will likely have to redo the “redevelopment plans” for seven of the city’s active Tax Allocation Districts. They have already brought on three advisory teams as well as data-centered nonprofit Neighborhood Nexus to work on the plans.
Klementich said the groups will create key performance indicators, or KPIs, across the plans, and “define certain things” essential to extending the TADs for Mayor Andre Dickens’ ambitious Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative.
In the meantime, Invest Atlanta members will meet with residents, explain the redevelopment plans and talk to people. “Whether it’s your TAD or your idea, or anything that you want to be included, we are really just trying to meet people where they are,” Klementich said.
