Neiman Taber Architects

Neiman Taber Architects is hiring, looking for a project architects w/ Multi-Family experience. Come help us build more housing for Seattle!

Help solve the housing crisis! 6 - 12 Year Project Manager/Architect | AIA Seattle Come join the Neiman Taber Architects team! Our unique office offers perks such as: Ongoing in-office/remote work options Dog-friendly office Casual, fun office culture with Friday cocktails and seasonal parties Strong mentorship work culture We are currently seeking a candidate…Read more ›

Jerrid Anderson invited me into his studio a few weeks ago to talk about our work in housing development. We enjoyed a wide ranging discussion, nerding out on various aspects of design, regulation, land values, property management, and the state of the industry in general. Enjoy!

Seattle Multifamily Podcast | Why Land Values Have Been Cut in Half Explore the Future of Urban Housing: Exclusive Interview with Architect and Developer David NeimanJoin us for an in-depth conversation with David Neiman of N...

https://neimanarchitects.blogspot.com/2024/05/introducing-urban-rooming-house.html

Our latest idea on how to develop small affordable co-living in today's regulatory environment.

Introducing the Urban Rooming House Ten years ago, Neiman Taber embarked on a series of projects that pioneered a new approach to micro-housing. We combined the inherent afford...

This Comprehensive Plan cycle is going to be a big fight. Mayor Harrell has published a first draft, the reviews are in, and it seems the consensus among housing nerds is that they are deeply underwhelmed. If you’re not a ride-or-die YIMBY activist and you’re not sure what to think about all of this, Patrick Taylor from our office has an excellent piece in The Urbanist that explains where the draft plan has failed to meet the moment, and what a more considered comprehensive growth plan would look like.

Op-Ed: Six Ways to Improve Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan - The Urbanist Suggestions to improve the One Seattle plan include allow bigger buildings, embrace transit-oriented development, and jettison parking requirements. We can create a Seattle that pulls the working class in rather than pushing them out.

For years now I’ve been designing and developing and writing about micro-housing. It’s been a tough slog on the policy side of things, but I believe the momentum may finally be moving in the right direction. Neiman Taber is helping with proposed legislation that would change the Washington State Building Code to allow for smaller studio apartments statewide. To aid in this effort, we put together this article with the wizards at Sightline to help politicians and policy makers as they wrestle with the questions of “how small is too small”, where to look for guidance, and how to develop appropriate regulations for micro-housing. Read it here:

Micro-housing: It’s Not about the Size but How You Use It - Sightline Institute And the National Healthy Housing Standard agrees.

Time to Dump Design Review for Seattle Housing Projects? Frustration with the program’s effectiveness, cost, and dampening effect on housing development has led a broad coalition of housing advocates to call for the curtailment or outright elimination of…

The newly enacted House Bill 1293 mandates that design review processes be limited to a single public meeting, be based only on clear and objective standards, and that the review timeline must be concurrent or logically integrated with the overall building permit review. At first glance, this might appear to be a tweak of the program, trimming its scope and timeline. In practice, it is likely to require a total transformation, if not outright elimination of Seattle’s Design Review program. See here for a long-form discussion of the potential implications of this new law:

Time to Dump Design Review for Seattle Housing Projects? Frustration with the program’s effectiveness, cost, and dampening effect on housing development has led a broad coalition of housing advocates to call for the curtailment or outright elimination of…

Last week Erica Barnett wrote a thought provoking article in Publicola looking at Seattle’s proposed new tree legislation. Among its criticisms, the article noted that the additional staff needed to enforce the new rules would cost the city more money than the legislation is expected to raise to fund tree planting in underserved neighborhoods.

This got me thinking: If you look at how much cost this legislation adds to a building permit application and multiply that by the number of projects each year that will go through that process, the true problem is probably a lot worse. So I sat down to review the permit records and do the math.

The annual estimated cost came to $20 million spent by applicants on surveys, reports, design fees, and city reviews vs. 67 trees planted. This works out to a total of $300,000 per tree.
http://neimanarchitects.blogspot.com/2023/04/does-money-grows-on-trees.html

I have an editorial in the Urbanist this weekend. It outlines significant objections to the proposed tree legislation and frames it within the context of collapsing housing starts that the city's new housing dashboard allows us to see. The numbers are pretty shocking: Townhouses down 50%, losing 940 homes per year, and apartments down 2/3, down over 8000 homes per year.

Op-Ed: Proposed Tree Legislation Awaits Its Turn to Add to Seattle’s Housing Woes There’s a saying that the path of progress doesn’t follow a straight line. This has certainly been what I’ve experienced in my two decades of working on Seattle housing policy. When it comes …

Breaking news on the Microhousing front:

Seattle Policymakers Microhousing Tour Guest Post from Liz Pisciotta: Monday, I had the opportunity to join a tour of microhousing projects that Neiman Taber helped organize. Th...

Councilmember Andrew Lewis invited me in to his office a few weeks ago to talk about microhousing: Why we need it, why we killed it off, why we should bring it back, and what needs to change to make that happen. The fact that this episode got made and aired is a pretty good indicator that policymakers are finally coming around to doing something about Seattle's anti-microhousing policies.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-neiman-the-case-for-building-more-microhousing/id1650317040?i=1000596317318