The recent sale of what was formerly known as the Vintage Park apartments in Burien has left tenants with their futures up in the air.

Vintage Park has 543 units, many with more than one family living in them. It is estimated that as many as 750 families could be affected.

Now known as 139 at the Park, Vintage Park has been purchased by Chicago-based developer Laramar, which plans to renovate the units. Rents will be raised accordingly.

Ruth Dickey with New Futures said the rent increase could be anywhere from $50 to $350 per month.

New Futures is a nonprofit organization that provides on-site educational and social services for tenants at Vintage Park, which is located at 1101 S.W. 139th St.

The only certainties at this point seem to be that renovations will take place and rents will be raised. Whether or not the rent increase will essentially force out the current tenants is unclear.

"The thought of renovations is necessary, but the thought of rent going up is troublesome," Dickey said.

"It's really hard to find housing that is affordable."

Currently, rents start at under $600 at Vintage Park.

The new owners have not yet revealed how much the rent will go up. Those decisions will be made after renovations, which are scheduled to begin within the next six to 12 months.

There had been some buzz that the new owners were buying Vintage Park to convert the apartments to condominiums, Dickey said.

At this time, that does not appear to be the case, she added.

The permit applications that Laramar has filed with the city of Burien confirm that the intention is not to convert to condos, at least for the time being, she said.

"They seem to be an honorable company, interested in helping the community."

Honorable or not, a hefty rent increase would probably force many families to move out. And that has Bill Kirlin-Hackett worried.

Kirlin-Hackett is the director for the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness.

"Keeping people in units is the way to prevent homelessness," he said.

If the tenants of Vintage Park were to be displaced, it would erase several years of work toward eliminating homelessness.

Kirlin-Hackett said there wouldn't be enough affordable housing in the Burien area for them to move into.

Dickey is worried about the future for affordable housing as well.

"If nothing is done, we will see this happen to places like Vintage Park over and over until our affordable housing dwindles to nothing," she said.