Port of Seattle and King County Housing Authority Delay Transfer of Lora Lake Apartments Until Environmental Testing Completed

The Port of Seattle (Port) and the King County Housing Authority (KCHA) have agreed to delay the transfer of the Lora Lake Apartments pending the outcome of environmental testing at the Burien property. The sale of the property from the Port to KCHA had been set to close today. The apartments have been vacant since summer 2007.

In the 1950s, the property was the site of an auto wrecking yard. Though the site was investigated and cleaned up before the apartments were built, recent underground testing of soil and groundwater show contamination below the paved surface of the site.

The Port had originally planned to demolish the apartment buildings in order to re-use the property for commercial or industrial purposes in conjunction with the City of Burien. After KCHA took actions to obtain the buildings for family housing, the plan was changed, and the Port agreed to transfer the property to KCHA. Before reaching this agreement, as a part of its routine testing for demolition and development, the Port took samples at seven and 14 feet below ground. Results, which came in recently, showed that the chemicals found included by-products of fuels and waste burning, including dioxin and petroleum hydrocarbons.

"The Port and the King County Housing Authority are working with the state Department of Ecology through the Voluntary Cleanup Program to complete the environmental investigation work," said Mark Reis, managing director of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

"We are committed to working with the Port to take the time necessary to properly evaluate the findings," said Stephen Norman, executive director of KCHA.

Background
The site was used for commercial and industrial purposes from the 1920s to the mid-1980s. The apartments were constructed and owned by a private developer in the late 1980s. The Port purchased the property in 1998 because one-third of the apartment complex was located within the runway protection zone of the new third runway at Sea-Tac Airport and would need to be demolished. The Port paid to relocate residents in 1999. With delays in the airport project, the City of Burien, the Port, and the King County Housing Authority (KCHA) entered into a Housing Cooperation Agreement transferring ownership of the apartment complex to KCHA and allowing the apartments to be reoccupied on a temporary basis. The agreement called for the complex to be returned to the Port by mid-2005. In 2004 the agreement with KCHA was extended for another two years, with the apartments returning to the Port in July 2007 when the residents were again relocated. In August 2007, the KCHA was granted an injunction against the demolition of the apartments and the Port and KCHA have been working since late 2007 to transfer the property back to KCHA.