Forest Cove, the derelict and now vacant Section 8 apartment complex blighting the southside’s Thomasville Heights neighborhood, is finally on the chopping block.
After years of legal battles with the property owner—Ohio-based mega-landlord Millennia Housing Management—the city of Atlanta is preparing to raze the long-neglected eyesore and security hazard to make way for new apartments, shops, and restaurants.
In late December, two years after a municipal judge condemned the complex and ordered it demolished, Mayor Andre Dickens told Atlanta Civic Circle enough was enough.
“Either [Millennia] will tear this property down, or I will,” he said in a Dec. 19 statement.
Courtney English, Dickens’ top policy advisor, told Atlanta Civic Circle on Wednesday that the wrecking ball will hit Forest Cove some time before April—but he noted that the city must first follow its standard property-demolition protocol, a legal process verifying the need to raze buildings.
First, the city will have to place a lien against the property. It also has to identify funding for the demolition, a 22-acre undertaking that English said is expected to cost some $2 million.
Atlanta Municipal Judge Christopher Portis ruled Dec. 1 that Millennia, which owns Forest Cove under the name Phoenix Ridge, violated the city’s housing code by failing to secure the property—fully two years after he condemned it and ordered it razed, calling the complex a public nuisance and crime magnet.
The two-year delay in razing the property is because Millennia appealed the judge’s condemnation order in early 2022. After much legal wrangling, Millennia finally withdrew its appeal last fall. A subsequent grace period ended Dec. 19, clearing the way for the city to finally tear down Forest Cove.
Who will pay?
In the meantime, an adjacent legal feud between the city and Millennia will continue to escalate.
Millennia sued Atlanta in federal court in October, claiming the city had unlawfully seized Forest Cove from the company by securing the condemnation order—and compromised its lofty rehabilitation plans.
In turn, the city enlisted celebrity civil rights attorney Ben Crump to mount its own class-action suit against Millennia, alleging the company has deprived low-income tenants at rental complexes around the country of safe housing.
And the legal melee with the city of Atlanta is hardly Millennia’s only headache: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in December suspended the company and its chief executive, Frank Sinito, from seeking new government contracts or renewing existing ones—including Section 8 rent voucher agreements—for five years.
HUD is also considering permanently cutting ties with Millennia, which owns dozens of government-subsidized apartment complexes nationally, in addition to Forest Cove.
“HUD found that Millennia Housing Management exercised financial mismanagement of tenant security deposit accounts and taxpayer funds providing housing assistance,” Ethan Handelman, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary of multifamily housing programs, told Atlanta Civic Circle in a Dec. 19 statement.
Millennia, which the city of Atlanta has accused of collecting HUD rent checks well after the city rehoused Forest Cove’s nearly 200 resident families elsewhere in 2022, could be on the hook for civil monetary penalties, Handelman said.
“The company is aware of HUD’s concerns and, throughout 2023, has taken actions to address concerns and has initiated dialogue with HUD to work toward a resolution,” Millennia responded in an emailed statement in December.
The city paid more than $9 million to relocate the Forest Cove households across metro Atlanta. Millennia will have to reimburse the city once the property is leveled, English, the mayor’s advisor, said. Millennia will also be expected to pay the city back for the demolition costs.
I am SO happy to hear that Forest Cove will be finally removed from the face of the earth. 5 year ban on Millenia is not nearly enough for the human suffering they have caused and the millions of dollars they have taken from the taxpayer, facilitated through HUD. I hope the DOJ will pursue criminal charges against the leaders of this corporation and financial fines that will prohibit the CEO (relatives, associates, assigns) from ever doing business again with the US government.