The Port of Seattle is beginning the final phase of home buy-outs for its third runway project.

The port, operators of Sea-Tac International Airport, will purchase 29 single-family homes and apartments in the approach transition zone north of the runway. They are located on the south side of South 140th Street from Des Moines Memorial Drive South to Miller Creek. Many of the homes are in a cul-de-sac on 12th Place South.

Homes on the north side of South 140th Street and properties east of Miller Creek will not be bought. That includes the Adorable Pet Lodge and several home sites with extensive acreage.

The entire area is within Burien's Northeast Redevelopment Area, which is slated for a gradually transition from residential to commercial uses.

The buy-out area is almost due north of the Lora Lake Apartments, where 162 units will be reopened in the affordable-housing complex.

Burien City Council members approved a memorandum of understanding with the King County Housing Authority and the Port of Seattle earlier this month that will preserve the units.

They had been targeted for demolition to clear the way for the start of commercial development in the city's Northeast area.

The housing authority will purchase the units, which were closed in June, from the port.

The port will purchase a total of 72 properties in the three phases of the transition zone buy-out, according to Diane Summerhays, port director of community development.

Summerhays also noted the port may buy several businesses along Des Moines drive as it assembles property for future airport-related development.

These include Filberto's Italian Restaurant, Des Moines Dental Clinic and Burien Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Voluntary purchases of businesses are not part of the buy-out, which is limited to residential properties, Summerhays added.

The residential buy-outs are part of a federally funded program with many complicated provisions, Jude Barrett, port property acquisition specialist, said.

Port experts help guide homeowners through the process.

The port will have purchased about 1,400 single-family homes and 359 mobile homes as part of the airport expansion.

"In 10 years, we've seen it all and done it all," Barrett noted.

The port must present the displaced homeowner with three housing options that are available, open and affordable to them, he said.

The replacement must also be "decent, safe and sanitary housing.

"It has to have more than a stove to cook on and a furnace that heats to 70 degrees, Barrett added.

"Our job is to move them to a quieter neighborhood and make them whole. Our goal is an identical home away from a runway."

If the homeowner or renter disputes the value placed on their home by port appraisers, they can obtain an independent appraisal.

Another process is to write a letter to the port's independent appeals board.

When the port bought out 74 units at the Burien Gardens mobile home on South 144th Street, only three appeals were registered, Barrett added.

He brings a special empathy to the airport buy-out process. When Barrett was young, his parents' home was demolished to make way for Interstate 90.

"I remember how it was to be uprooted in an involuntary move," Barrett recalled. "It was not a comfortable feeling."