CSIM
Vacancy Opportunity Index

Chatham — Vacancy-to-Revitalization

Edition 2 / 9 · ZIP 60619 · As of July 22, 2026

Also covers Avalon Park · Greater Grand Crossing · Burnside

Edition geography: ZIP 60619 (primarily Chatham). ZIP and community-area boundaries do not align exactly.

Scale of the challenge

1,829
Tracked vacant properties
78%
Ownership unverified
311-reported vacant buildings, not yet parcel-matched
22%
City / Public controlled

All tracked sites intersect at least one incentive geography

Site map — clustered tracked vacancies

Distress

Showing all 1,829 sites

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)403
(b)311-reported vacant-building sitesService requests — ownership not attached1,426
(c)Assessor-classed vacant-land parcelsCook County Assessor vacant-land classification1,149

Sources (a) and (b) together form the 1,829-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
403
Unknown
1,426

Tracked list — land vs. building

403 vacant land (22%)1,426 reported buildings (311) (78%)

02 How the land sources overlap

City-inventory vacant-land parcels403
+Assessor-classed vacant-land parcels1,149
Parcels counted in both sources (City PIN matches)41
Unique land parcels (deduplicated union)1,511
  • 41 City PIN matches — parcels present in both land sources.
  • 362 City-inventory parcels outside the Assessor’s vacant-land classification (city land is mostly tax-exempt).
  • 1,108 Assessor parcels not found in the City inventory.

03 Who controls the vacant land

Ownership across the 1,511 unique land parcels above — the single “who controls” claim.

Corporate / LLC
133
Out-of-State Investor
177
Local Private
733
City / Public
403
Unknown
65
Total
1,511

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 0.

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
Entity182200202
Individual769580827
Trust9009
Government430043
Unresolved680068
Total1,0717801,149

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

1,426311-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 records on file644 parcels · latest 2015Vacant-building violations181 tracked sites

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.

5
Impossible on its face
Occupancy exemption on vacant LAND (class 1xx)
1 senior / freeze5 no transfer ≥10y
268
Plausible but stale
Occupancy exemption on a vacant BUILDING
93 senior / freeze268 no transfer ≥10y

Exemption tax year 2024 · land exempt EAV ~58,000 (order of magnitude)

Coverage: every count is a floor. Unmatched 311 building rows carry no parcel and are invisible here; MyDec transfer records only reach back to roughly 2009, so a “no transfer” flag is a floor, not proof of no sale; and exemption data lags to tax year 2024. Parcel-level detail is held in the admin-only referral packet below.

05 What this means for action

Public land parcels403Disposition · RFP · CCLBA coordination · land assembly
Known private land parcels1,043Owner outreach and development partnerships
Unknown land parcels65Ownership and title verification
Reported buildings1,426Parcel 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
150 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 50 vacant properties: 4 publicly controlled and 46 requiring verification.

4 land · 46 buildings3 tax-sale5 violations
250 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 50 vacant properties: 2 publicly controlled and 48 requiring verification.

2 land · 48 buildings6 tax-sale7 violations
350 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 50 vacant properties: 15 publicly controlled and 35 requiring verification.

15 land · 35 buildings4 tax-sale6 violations
450 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 50 vacant properties: 18 publicly controlled and 32 requiring verification.

18 land · 32 buildings9 tax-sale6 violations
549 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 49 vacant properties: 6 publicly controlled and 43 requiring verification.

6 land · 43 buildings11 tax-sale6 violations
625 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 3 publicly controlled and 22 requiring verification.

3 land · 22 buildings4 tax-sale4 violations
725 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 11 publicly controlled and 14 requiring verification.

11 land · 14 buildings4 tax-sale1 violations
825 sites

Calumet Hts/Avalon corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 4 publicly controlled and 21 requiring verification.

4 land · 21 buildings8 tax-sale3 violations
925 sites

Burnside corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 7 publicly controlled and 18 requiring verification.

7 land · 18 buildings10 tax-sale2 violations
1025 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 6 publicly controlled and 19 requiring verification.

6 land · 19 buildings5 tax-sale3 violations
1125 sites

Chatham corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 5 publicly controlled and 20 requiring verification.

5 land · 20 buildings9 tax-sale3 violations
1225 sites

Burnside corridor: This cluster contains 25 vacant properties: 11 publicly controlled and 14 requiring verification.

11 land · 14 buildings7 tax-sale4 violations

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
11300 E 92ND STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandM3-2307,533City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
27801 S COTTAGE GROVE AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandC2-229,594City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
37327 S SOUTH CHICAGO AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-216,014City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
47752 S AVALON AVECity / PublicUNRVacant LandRS-319,901City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
58201 S ELLIS AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-110,417City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
61510 E 94TH STCity / PublicENTVacant LandM1-231,155City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
77369 S SOUTH CHICAGO AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-27,858City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
88907 S COTTAGE GROVE AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandRT-47,500City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
97301 S UNIVERSITY AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandRS-36,874City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
107708 S BLACKSTONE AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandPD 15146,299City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
117235 S UNIVERSITY AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-36,251City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
121314 E 75TH STCity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-28,778City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
953 E 75TH STCity / PublicINDVacant LandC1-27,125City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
7205 S VERNON AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-38,634City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
8800 S DAUPHIN AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandRS-38,545City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗

+ 1,814 additional sites in the directory below

Nine-edition comparison

EditionTracked VacantVacancy RateLocal OwnershipBuilding ShareCity-Owned Share
South Chicago60617
2,167
6%
62%
60%
40%
Chatham60619
1,829
6%
83%
78%
22%
South Shore60649
693
4%
77%
82%
18%
West Garfield Park60624
2,785
16%
79%
52%
48%
North Lawndale60623
2,513
9%
88%
52%
48%
Austin60644
1,539
9%
86%
60%
40%
Humboldt Park60651
954
4%
90%
76%
24%
Englewood60621
3,828
24%
78%
40%
60%
West Englewood60636
3,085
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
Chatham carries 1,829 tracked vacant properties. 403 are City- or public-controlled and can move toward disposition without owner outreach; the remaining 1,426 carry unverified ownership (311-reported buildings) and start with parcel matching and ownership verification. Every tracked site sits inside at least one incentive geography, so the location already qualifies for programs before any conversation begins. 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; verify current ownership, eligibility, timing, and approval requirements with the administering organization before relying.