ATLANTA — It's the end of an era for the now-former Forest Cove Apartments as a partial demolition started Wednesday.
"We are putting on notice any landlord, any bad operator in the City of Atlanta that we mean business when we say if you are gonna operate in a way that's going to cause hurt, harm, or danger to the residents of Atlanta such as the owners of Forest Cove, which is Millennia Housing Management. We will see about you," Mayor Andre Dickens told reporters right before the dilapidated building was torn down.
Units burned in previous fires are being demolished Wednesday. At least four fires happened at the vacant complex since October. Mayor Dickens said because some of the other units had asbestos in them, they would be demolished at a later date so they could be remediated. The remediation could take up to five months.
The partial demolition comes as plans as the City of Atlanta searches for new developers that will help develop a 7.86-acre parcel from McDonough Boulevard between Welch Street and Moreland Avenue.
Dickens and the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation (AUD) are launching the search in hopes of redeveloping the Thomasville Heights neighborhood, which included the condemned apartments. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was put out to help look for developers in the process.
AUD hopes to have developers prioritize creating affordable housing options that could appeal to the former Forest Cove residents.
“Launching this RFQ process is another step toward restoring Thomasville Heights back to the community it was always meant to be," Dickens said in a news release announcing the search. "This development will bring more affordability and equity to Southeast Atlanta and create a pathway back for former Forest Cove residents while ensuring they have the safe and secure housing they deserve. Thank you to everyone involved in this group project, and I look forward to this once again being a vibrant, flourishing area of our city."
Prospective developers have until May 1 to submit their plans for redevelopment.
The complex itself has been the subject of much controversy in the last couple of years, with former residents complaining of unsafe conditions, no heat or air, and even rats. A judge condemned the property, citing safety concerns in 2021, and the City of Atlanta began helping families relocate in 2022.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) canceled its contract with the property owner in June, rendering Forest Cove ineligible for Section 8 housing.
Dickens also said he is investigating another complex in the city, Fairburn and Gordon, with similar conditions to Forest Cove and hopes to bring the apartment owners up to code. He said they have launched a safe and secure housing initiative and will work with code enforcement and the solicitor's office to ensure landlords keep their properties in compliance.
"HUD is doing the same thing we're doing," Dickens said. "They are seeing problem property owners. They're seeing problem landlords."
Dickens added the Adamsville complex is under investigation.
"That too is under (HUD's) eyes," Dickens said. "And HUD is saying, 'We're going to abate those contracts too,' as well. So HUD is standing up, utilizing the same methods that we're doing with our safe and secure housing program."
Dickens added they've started the process to see how they can get Fairburn and Gordon into compliance. If not, he said things at the complex will have to change.
Kecia McNease, who works near the condemned apartments, applauds the efforts.
"Me and my coworkers, we have been here working for the last 14 years and to see it, is just, it’s heartwarming to know that something is being done. It’s an eye-sore anyway because it looked horrible; it looked just deplorable, so I’m grateful," she said.
The Atlanta mayor told reporters he remembered the first time he encountered the apartment residents when he was a councilman.
"Now coming here to this day, to where we can knock this down is bittersweet, but it is definitely sweet to know we did it the right way, and that people on the other side of this are benefiting, and that there are some owner, Millennia that's going to get, what they just deserve today," the mayor said.
The city has been in a contentious battle over the property with owner Phoenix Ridge, who has previously explained to 11Alive that they are a subsidiary of Millennia Housing Management.
In October, the city and prominent attorney Benjamin Crump announced a lawsuit on behalf of residents against the owners.
The company provided the following statement Wednesday:
Today the City is not only celebrating the demolition of Forest Cove but also the success of its plan to steal Forest Cove from its former residents and Phoenix Ridge, in order to hand it over to a developer of their choosing for their vision, which notably excludes the subsidized housing crucial to those residents.
The decades of deterioration impacting Forest Cove came under the watch of the City of Atlanta and Forest Cove's previous owner. Phoenix Ridge purchased the property in 2021 with the expressed goal of relocating residents to complete a $58M renovation. Had the City not blocked Phoenix Ridge from doing so, all rightful Forest Cove residents would be living in transformed, subsidized homes today. The City's demolition of this community is not a result of management by Phoenix Ridge, but the City's actions to block the planned rehabilitation in breach of its obligations under the Consent Agreement so that it could build a park and unsubsidized housing with a developer hand-picked by the Mayor. Despite what Mayor Dickens may claim, today is a sad day for Atlanta and the Forest Cove residents who will never return to their community and continue to languish in temporary housing across the Metro area.
As for the site, the city plans to sign a contract with developers by the end of the year and plans to begin redevelopment soon.