CSIM
Vacancy Opportunity Index

South Chicago — Vacancy-to-Revitalization

Edition 1 / 9 · ZIP 60617 · As of August 13, 2026

Also covers East Side · South Deering · Calumet Heights

Edition geography: ZIP 60617 (primarily South Chicago). ZIP and community-area boundaries do not align exactly.

Scale of the challenge

2,177
Tracked vacant properties
60%
Ownership unverified
311-reported vacant buildings, not yet parcel-matched
40%
City / Public controlled

All tracked sites intersect at least one incentive geography

Site map — clustered tracked vacancies

Showing 2,000 of 2,177

Numbered discs are the 12 featured sites in the site index below.

Vacancy Sources, Ownership, and Control

01 What is being counted

(a)City-inventory vacant-land parcelsCity-Owned Land Server (COLS)864
(b)311-reported vacant-building sitesService requests — ownership not attached1,313
(c)Assessor-classed vacant-land parcelsCook County Assessor vacant-land classification1,734

Sources (a) and (b) together form the 2,177-record operational tracking list — the properties a corridor manager actively works. That list is not the complete vacant-land universe. The land universe reconciles the two land sources, (a) and (c), below.

Tracked list by owner type (COLS + 311)

Corporate / LLC
0
Out-of-State Investor
0
Local Private
0
City / Public
864
Unknown
1,313

Tracked list — land vs. building

864 vacant land (40%)1,313 reported buildings (311) (60%)

02 How the land sources overlap

City-inventory vacant-land parcels864
+Assessor-classed vacant-land parcels1,734
Parcels counted in both sources (City PIN matches)132
Unique land parcels (deduplicated union)2,466
  • 132 City PIN matches — parcels present in both land sources.
  • 732 City-inventory parcels outside the Assessor’s vacant-land classification (city land is mostly tax-exempt).
  • 1,602 Assessor parcels not found in the City inventory.

03 Who controls the vacant land

Ownership across the 2,466 unique land parcels above — the single “who controls” claim.

Corporate / LLC
292
Out-of-State Investor
442
Local Private
785
City / Public
867
Unknown
80
Total
2,466

City / Public = City-inventory parcels plus additional public parcels identified through assessor taxpayer records. Private and unknown counts are the reconciled taxpayer-of-record classifications over the same land universe. Raw taxpayer records alone would show City/Public 5.

03b Owner structure × geography

The same assessor vacant-land parcels, cross-tabulated by owner structure (from the taxpayer name) and geography (from the taxpayer mailing address).

StructureIn-stateOut-of-stateUnknownTotal
Entity319620381
Individual1,0457401,119
Trust106016
Government13710138
Unresolved800080
Total1,59114301,734

Geography is the taxpayer mailing address’s state, not a claim about where an owner physically resides. Structure is inferred from public taxpayer-of-record name patterns.

04 Vacant buildings requiring verification

1,313311-reported vacant-building sitesOwnership unverified

These are service-request sites, not owner-verified holdings — they are not “privately held.” An exact land-plus-building total should not be published until these sites are parcel-matched and deduplicated against the land universe above.

Tax-sale / delinquencyNot yet availableCode-violation densityNot yet available

04b Exemption anomalies — records for review

Record anomalies warranting official review. A vacant land parcel cannot serve as a principal residence; these pairings are records discrepancies for the Assessor, Treasurer, and Clerk to adjudicate — no wrongdoing is asserted.

Exemption anomaliesNot yet available

05 What this means for action

Public land parcels867Disposition · RFP · CCLBA coordination · land assembly
Known private land parcels1,519Owner outreach and development partnerships
Unknown land parcels80Ownership and title verification
Reported buildings1,313Parcel matching · ownership verification · active-status confirmation

Revitalization cannot depend on one acquisition strategy. It requires public-land disposition, local-owner partnerships, absentee-owner outreach, and targeted ownership verification.

Ownership → action pathways

Owner classAction pathway
City / PublicDisposition inquiry · CCLBA coordination · RFP · land assembly
Local PrivateDirect outreach · technical assistance · sale or development partnership
Corporate / LLCPortfolio-level outreach · identify decision-maker · negotiate assembly
Out-of-State InvestorTargeted outreach · acquisition interest · tax/code review
UnknownTitle and taxpayer verification before outreach
Tax-sale record on fileLegal review · tax-sale monitoring · acquisition pathway assessment

Where coordinated intervention is possible

Coordinated intervention

12 clusters
179 sites

This cluster contains 79 vacant properties: 42 publicly controlled and 37 requiring verification.

42 land · 37 buildings
248 sites

Calumet corridor: This cluster contains 48 vacant properties: 48 publicly controlled.

48 land · 0 buildings
340 sites

Commercial Avenue corridor: This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 31 publicly controlled and 9 requiring verification.

31 land · 9 buildings
440 sites

South Chicago CCSA Corridor corridor: This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 36 publicly controlled and 4 requiring verification.

36 land · 4 buildings
540 sites

South Chicago CCSA Corridor corridor: This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 39 publicly controlled and 1 requiring verification.

39 land · 1 building
640 sites

Commercial Avenue corridor: This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 32 publicly controlled and 8 requiring verification.

32 land · 8 buildings
740 sites

This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 30 publicly controlled and 10 requiring verification.

30 land · 10 buildings
840 sites

Commercial Avenue corridor: This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 21 publicly controlled and 19 requiring verification.

21 land · 19 buildings
940 sites

This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 28 publicly controlled and 12 requiring verification.

28 land · 12 buildings
1040 sites

This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 15 publicly controlled and 25 requiring verification.

15 land · 25 buildings
1140 sites

This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 21 publicly controlled and 19 requiring verification.

21 land · 19 buildings
1240 sites

This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 7 publicly controlled and 33 requiring verification.

7 land · 33 buildings

Proximity clusters: tracked sites within ~100 m linked; contiguous areas larger than ~500 m are divided into sub-areas for intervention planning; minimum five sites. Boundaries are analytical, not parcel-contiguous.

Site index — featured sites

#AddressOwner typeTypeZoningSq ftNext stepVerify
18558 S GREEN BAY AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandC1-112,028City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
23154 E 95TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandM1-2269,000City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
39329 S BALTIMORE AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandM2-248,678City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
49139 S BALTIMORE AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandM1-210,600City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
58841 S BALTIMORE AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandRT-3.569,030City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
69001 S LAKE SHORE DRCity / PublicGOVVacant LandPD 1599315,488City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
72657 E 95TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandRS-340,106City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
89700 S AVENUE JCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-317,259City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
99328 S ANTHONY AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandM1-215,698City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
102407 E 100TH STCity / PublicINDVacant LandB1-114,131City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
118560 S SOUTH CHICAGO AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandM1-233,869City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
122255 E 87TH STCity / PublicENTVacant LandM1-225,308City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
9216 S BURLEY AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandPD 15427,815City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
3123 E 92ND STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-36,835City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
8504 S BURLEY AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-46,633City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗

+ 2,162 additional sites in the directory below

Nine-edition comparison

EditionTracked VacantVacancy RateLocal OwnershipBuilding ShareCity-Owned Share
South Chicago60617
2,177
6%
62%
60%
40%
Chatham60619
1,850
6%
83%
78%
22%
South Shore60649
706
4%
77%
83%
17%
West Garfield Park60624
2,786
16%
79%
52%
48%
North Lawndale60623
2,518
9%
88%
52%
48%
Austin60644
1,546
9%
86%
61%
39%
Humboldt Park60651
956
4%
90%
76%
24%
Englewood60621
3,835
24%
78%
40%
60%
West Englewood60636
3,091
19%
83%
55%
45%

Dot ratings rank the nine pilot editions against each other (quintiles). They are not citywide scores or grades.

Site directory — every tracked address

90-day corridor action agenda

  1. 01Select 2–3 priority clusters
  2. 02Disposition conversations for public sites
  3. 03Outreach list for local + corporate owners
  4. 04Verify unknown / outdated records
  5. 05Match clusters with uses / developers / incentives
  6. 06Track identified → contacted → verified → assembled → activated
South Chicago carries 2,177 tracked vacant properties. 864 are City- or public-controlled and can move toward disposition without owner outreach; the remaining 1,313 carry unverified ownership (311-reported buildings) and start with parcel matching and ownership verification. 2,177 tracked site points intersect at least one boundary in the Explorer dataset (revision 2026-08-13). Use those overlaps to prioritize programs for review; they do not establish eligibility, current intake, or an award. Revitalization here is not a single deal — it is public-land disposition, local-owner partnerships, absentee-owner outreach, and records verification, run cluster by cluster.

Download the anonymized PDF edition — owner types only, no names. Safe to share with partners.

Dot ratings rank the nine pilot editions against each other (quintiles). They are not citywide scores or grades.

Sources
  • Chicago City-Owned Land Inventory (aksk-kvfp) + 311 Vacant/Abandoned Building Complaints (v6vf-nfxy)
  • Cook County Assessor parcels (classified owner type; complete vacant-land universe)
  • Explorer corridor-metrics citywide export (vacancy rate, local ownership, incentive coverage)
  • Chicago ZIP Code boundaries (unjd-c2ca)
  • Chicago transportation network (expressways + rail)

Informational screening only. Owner type is inferred from public taxpayer-of-record patterns and is anonymized — no owner names or mailing addresses appear here. Records indicate; confirm current ownership, program requirements, timing, and approval steps with the administering organization before relying.