The city of Atlanta has discovered asbestos in “every single unit” at Forest Cove, a revelation that will delay the demolition of the condemned and now vacant southside apartment complex, Mayor Andre Dickens’ chief policy advisor, Courtney English, told Atlanta Civic Circle last week.

English had previously said the 396-unit, Section 8 complex, which is owned by Ohio-based mega-landlord Millennia Housing Management, would face the bulldozer before April. But the asbestos — a carcinogen known to cause some forms of cancer — has thrown a wrench in that plan.

“Legally, we are required to remediate that asbestos before we can begin tearing it down,” he said. “So I don’t have a timeline yet.”

The city had been preparing to request demolition permits, but a required environmental assessment uncovered the asbestos.

Initially estimated to cost around $2 million, the price of demolition could now balloon, English said, due to the asbestos cleanup costs. Disturbing structures containing asbestos with heavy machinery risks scattering hazardous particles around properties and their environs.

But Millennia, which owns Forest Cove under the name Phoenix Ridge, claimed in a statement Monday that the city of Atlanta has known about the asbestos “since long before Phoenix Ridge assumed ownership in 2021.”

“Asbestos was a common building material used until the 1980s, and as the city is aware, the Forest Cove Apartments were built in the 1960s,” the statement says. “Plans to abate the asbestos were always part of Phoenix Ridge’s $58M revitalization plans and the proposals approved by the city, which would have seen all rightful residents returned to transformed and safe housing today, versus dispersed across the metro Atlanta area in temporary homes.”

Millennia is suing the city in federal court, alleging the municipality unlawfully seized Forest Cove and compromised the property owner’s rehabilitation plans by…