Ohio-based mega-landlord Millennia Housing Management is still angling to salvage Forest Cove Apartments, after a city judge condemned the southeast Atlanta property in December 2021 and gave Millennia until mid-September 2022 to bulldoze it.

Instead of razing and rebuilding the 396-unit complex, which exclusively housed tenants using federally funded Section 8 vouchers, Millennia appealed the judge’s ruling and in March 2022 entered into a settlement agreement with the city of Atlanta that would have teed up a renovation.

But the city said in a May 1 filing in Fulton County Superior Court that Millennia’s attempt to rescind the demolition order is invalid, because the 50-year old buildings that make up the complex are in uninhabitable and unsalvageable condition after years of sewage leaks, mold infestations, and other neglect. 

The city, represented by James Dearing Jr., said Millennia “cannot violate city housing laws by maintaining a nuisance masquerading as an apartment complex,” in its response to Millennia’s March 13 motion to enforce the settlement deal—and cancel the demolition order.

In the settlement deal last year, the city agreed to waive the judge’s demolition mandate, contingent on relocating the over 200 families who’d been living in unsafe and uninhabitable conditions at Forest Cove for years before it was finally condemned, after racking up 231 code violations.

It also said Millennia should secure the property with fences, security guards, and upgraded lighting, but those were not written as binding terms of the deal. “In the event that the owner fails to adequately secure the property, the city has the right to take the necessary steps to do so and to seek to recover the reasonable costs,” the settlement agreement said.

A city-led team of local nonprofits, financed by $9.1 million in federal COVID-19 relief money, spent from May until October of last year…