Invest Atlanta board approves Amsterdam Walk incentive, talks TAD audit

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 w