Partners

In pursuing our vision of building vibrant and sustainable communities, Nitze-Stagen benefits from its partnerships.

Nitze-Stagen has launched public private partnerships to leverage resources in communities where it works for shared goals such as safety and security, infrastructure development and zoning.

  • Alliance for Safety, Affordability and Preservation
  • Northern Rainier Valley Partnership
  • Pioneer Square Safety and Security Group
  • Othello Central Square Stakeholders Group
  • C-ID Business Coalition for Safety and Security

Build4Community

Build4Community creates and leads public private partnerships, harnessing the resources of the public, private, service and nonprofit sectors in Puget Sound Region communities. Our goal is positive social and economic impact resulting in thriving communities. We support community-led initiatives to address challenges and seize opportunities that further the health and vibrancy of neighborhoods.

Build4Community Website

OZ Navigator

OZ Navigator is a partnership between Nitze-Stagen and Housing Diversity Corporation focused on developing Opportunity Zone projects that contribute to the vibrancy and economic diversity of the communities in which they are located. The partnership brings together two Seattle-based developers with a commitment to holding their properties for the long-term and a shared vision of providing positive social benefits.

Oz Navigator Website

OZ Navigator Video

Alliance for Safety, Affordability and Preservation (ASAP)

The Alliance for Safety, Affordability and Preservation (ASAP!) was formed in 2018 by Peter and Lisa Nitze and Brad Padden to develop solutions to the threat to public safety; affordable living and working spaces; and the rich legacy of our region’s built environment posed by the impact of future seismic events on our unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs). An event like a magnitude 6 to 7 Seattle fault earthquake has the potential to cause widespread death and injury, displace tens of thousands of our region’s most vulnerable residents and the businesses who call these building’s home, and permanently damage some of our most distinctive historic structures. Furthermore, it would severely exacerbate the existing housing affordability crisis and lead to a surge in homelessness.

Consisting of nearly 50 concerned stakeholders from the City of Seattle, King County, developers (both market- rate and affordable), URM property owners, historic preservationists, and neighborhood associations, ASAP! began working to restore and upgrade these character-rich masonry buildings before the next major earthquake rendered them uninhabitable, or ledto their unplanned demolition.

The stakeholders worked to develop a Retrofit Credit concept to help URM building owners defray the cost of seismically upgrading their buildings, and worked to solve for displacement issues, develop plans for how to streamline regulatory review for URM upgrades, assess the cost of different types of retrofits and develop ways to incentivize URM building owners to simultaneously undertake environmental upgrades.

In 2021, due to the work of ASAP!, the City Council passed an ordinance directing the Seattle Mayor’s Office for • Definition of URMs • Identification of the type of seismic retrofit standard required to bring URMs into compliance, depending on type of building • A categorization system for building types and/or uses that prioritize key buildings and services • Timeline for compliance • Enforcement strategy • Variety of potential funding opportunities and financial incentives for building owners to alleviate the financial burden of required seismic retrofits for URMs.

In 2022, SDCI hired a URM Program Director who began working with ASAP! In 2023, SDCI published its draft URM Retrofit Technical Standards and established working groups consisting of ASAP! Stakeholders and other to address communication, funding and Retrofit Credit, URM building owners and tenants issues in pursuing mandatory seismic upgrades.

City Council URM Presentation
URM Proclamation