Missing Middle Housing is a transformative concept that highlights the need for diverse, affordable housing choices in sustainable, walkable places.
Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today's Housing Crisis
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We Help Private Developers Make Their Mark
We are the undisputed experts when it comes to Missing Middle Housing. We can help you expand your business model to include Missing Middle Housing types, including finding the right sites, securing funding and connecting with other builders and professionals doing similar work. Looking to target a specific city or neighborhood for strategic investing in MMH? We can help with that, too.
We Help Cities Implement Missing Middle Housing
We can help you bring Missing Middle Housing to your city or town. Perhaps you need an area plan or a specific plan that will remove barriers and spark development of MMH. Maybe you are hoping to integrate MMH into your strategic housing plan, a comprehensive plan or a zoning fix or rewrite. We can kick things off with a Missing Middle Housing Scan™ to better understand the barriers and opportunities, and then get started. We’re here to help!
“Opticos worked closely with us to design a beautiful, diverse neighborhood... It’s been a true pleasure working with them to fulfill my vision.”
— Jerry Reimer, Co-founder, Urban Village Development
We are the chief architects of the Missing Middle Housing movement.
Opticos principal Daniel Parolek coined the term Missing Middle Housing in 2010, transforming the national conversation about the need for more diverse housing choices at affordable prices. Since then, we’ve been driving a radical paradigm shift, urging architects, urban planners, and builders to fundamentally rethink the way they design, locate, regulate and develop homes. Americans want and need more diverse housing choices in walkable neighborhoods; homes that are attainable, sustainable and beautifully designed.
Missing Middle Housing Site Planning and Architecture
Meeting the Demand for Walkable Living
At Opticos, we design custom urban housing types that are different from anything else on the market. We don’t look at the housing types that have been built and sold in the recent past. Instead, we’ve studied a broad range of market segments and we design the kind of homes that people want today. Our designs are new and different, and they’re creating walkable, urban neighborhoods that people want to call home. In doing this, we deliver remarkable efficiencies for our clients while developing high-quality living environments for home buyers and renters. Everybody wins.
The Missing Middle Housing Collection™
Unique, Market-Ready Housing Solutions
Through our work designing Missing Middle Housing for clients across the country, we’ve developed The Missing Middle Housing Collection™ which consists of products ready to meet your needs. Features like 100% efficiencies, high quality private and shared outdoor spaces, and their ability to reinforce a strong sense of community make these attractive to both builders and buyers.
Missing Middle Neighborhoods
Redefining Multifamily Living
We can help you develop a new kind of neighborhood that will attract the growing number of people who prefer to rent, but who don’t want to live in a conventional apartment complex. Some of these folks are just choosing to rent longer, while others are re-entering the rental market in an effort to downsize. Either way, we can help you build a neighborhood composed entirely of Missing Middle Housing rentals, or a combination of rental and for sale units. Not your ordinary multifamily project or new neighborhood!
Featured Projects
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“Opticos' design of the Mews Homes was innovative and differentiated us from the market. It also enabled us to hit a price point near $200,000 that we had been unable to reach with our existing product types. Dan and the Opticos team have been a great partner, and we’re excited to work with them on new, creative projects in the future!"
— Spencer Holmes, Partner and Vice President, Holmes Homes
Design Thinking | Marin County Objective Design Standards Shared Zoning Toolkit
The Marin County Objective Design Standards Toolkit resulted from a multijurisdictional collaborative effort to address State law requirements and facilitate ministerial approvals for housing projects. This article was originally published in the American Planning Association, California Chapter – Northern Section newsletter authored by Stefan Pellegrini, AICP, Opticos Design Principal and Jillian Zeiger, AICP, Senior Planner at the County of Marin.
2023 Missing Middle Solutions and Car-Free Urbanism Road Tour
Opticos is hitting the road! Come join Daniel Parolek at one of his upcoming speaking events to discuss all things walkable urbanism-related, including the state of Missing Middle Housing applications around the world, including Opticos’ latest Missing Middle Scans and Deep Dives™, a County-wide Zoning Toolkit for Marin County intended to deliver much-needed housing options, and Housing Plans for various cities including Modesto and Sacramento, California, the latest updates on the implementation of Culdesac Tempe, the county’s first car-free community built from scratch and Prairie Queen, the country’s first 100% Missing Middle Neighborhood which utilizes the Missing Middle Neighborhood Kit™. There will be some frank discussions about existing barriers for implementing walkable urbanism, why we have not made more progress enabling it, and what organizations are leading the way in these conversations.
Reflecting on the New York Times Article “What Happened to the Starter Home”
This excellent article, which features Opticos’ Mews Homes in Daybreak and a quote from Founding Principal Dan Parolek, reinforces that it is not just generally a lack of housing that is causing today’s housing crisis, but more specifically the lack of smaller, attainably-priced starter homes.
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Speaking Nationwide
