CSIM
Vacancy Opportunity Index

West Garfield Park — Vacancy-to-Revitalization

Edition 4 / 9 · ZIP 60624 · As of July 22, 2026

Edition geography: ZIP 60624 (primarily West Garfield Park). ZIP and community-area boundaries do not align exactly.

Scale of the challenge

2,785
Tracked vacant properties
52%
Ownership unverified
311-reported vacant buildings, not yet parcel-matched
48%
City / Public controlled

All tracked sites intersect at least one incentive geography

Site map — clustered tracked vacancies

Distress

Showing 2,000 of 2,785

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)1,339
(b)311-reported vacant-building sitesService requests — ownership not attached1,446
(c)Assessor-classed vacant-land parcelsCook County Assessor vacant-land classification1,657

Sources (a) and (b) together form the 2,785-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
1,339
Unknown
1,446

Tracked list — land vs. building

1,339 vacant land (48%)1,446 reported buildings (311) (52%)

02 How the land sources overlap

City-inventory vacant-land parcels1,339
+Assessor-classed vacant-land parcels1,657
Parcels counted in both sources (City PIN matches)257
Unique land parcels (deduplicated union)2,739
  • 257 City PIN matches — parcels present in both land sources.
  • 1,082 City-inventory parcels outside the Assessor’s vacant-land classification (city land is mostly tax-exempt).
  • 1,400 Assessor parcels not found in the City inventory.

03 Who controls the vacant land

Ownership across the 2,739 unique land parcels above — the single “who controls” claim.

Corporate / LLC
273
Out-of-State Investor
146
Local Private
929
City / Public
1,339
Unknown
52
Total
2,739

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 2.

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
Entity329340363
Individual910480958
Trust110011
Government26900269
Unresolved560056
Total1,5758201,657

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

1,446311-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 file827 parcels · latest 2015Vacant-building violations110 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.

13
Impossible on its face
Occupancy exemption on vacant LAND (class 1xx)
2 senior / freeze13 no transfer ≥10y
132
Plausible but stale
Occupancy exemption on a vacant BUILDING
44 senior / freeze132 no transfer ≥10y

Exemption tax year 2024 · land exempt EAV ~150,000 (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 parcels1,339Disposition · RFP · CCLBA coordination · land assembly
Known private land parcels1,348Owner outreach and development partnerships
Unknown land parcels52Ownership and title verification
Reported buildings1,446Parcel 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
187 sites

West Garfield Park corridor: This cluster contains 87 vacant properties: 28 publicly controlled and 59 requiring verification.

28 land · 59 buildings16 tax-sale4 violations
287 sites

West Garfield Park corridor: This cluster contains 87 vacant properties: 52 publicly controlled and 35 requiring verification.

52 land · 35 buildings12 tax-sale3 violations
387 sites

West Garfield Park corridor: This cluster contains 87 vacant properties: 29 publicly controlled and 58 requiring verification.

29 land · 58 buildings15 tax-sale2 violations
487 sites

West Garfield Park CCSA Corridor corridor: This cluster contains 87 vacant properties: 31 publicly controlled and 56 requiring verification.

31 land · 56 buildings16 tax-sale7 violations
587 sites

Kinzie corridor: This cluster contains 87 vacant properties: 39 publicly controlled and 48 requiring verification.

39 land · 48 buildings12 tax-sale2 violations
686 sites

This cluster contains 86 vacant properties: 42 publicly controlled and 44 requiring verification.

42 land · 44 buildings13 tax-sale
744 sites

This cluster contains 44 vacant properties: 19 publicly controlled and 25 requiring verification.

19 land · 25 buildings7 tax-sale4 violations
844 sites

Roosevelt/Cicero corridor: This cluster contains 44 vacant properties: 12 publicly controlled and 32 requiring verification.

12 land · 32 buildings5 tax-sale2 violations
944 sites

This cluster contains 44 vacant properties: 27 publicly controlled and 17 requiring verification.

27 land · 17 buildings1 tax-sale2 violations
1044 sites

This cluster contains 44 vacant properties: 24 publicly controlled and 20 requiring verification.

24 land · 20 buildings
1144 sites

West Garfield Park CCSA Corridor corridor: This cluster contains 44 vacant properties: 8 publicly controlled and 36 requiring verification.

8 land · 36 buildings10 tax-sale3 violations
1244 sites

West Garfield Park corridor: This cluster contains 44 vacant properties: 22 publicly controlled and 22 requiring verification.

22 land · 22 buildings7 tax-sale

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
14301 W CHICAGO AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandPMD 91,295,000City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
23729 W ARTHINGTON STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRM-519,999City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
3419 N CENTRAL PARK BLVDCity / PublicINDVacant LandRM-510,296City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
43811 W MADISON STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandB3-321,249City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
53501 W MADISON STCity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-320,131City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
63 S CENTRAL PARK BLVDCity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-313,802City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
73831 W MADISON STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandB3-312,998City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
83402 W ADAMS STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRM-512,452City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
93841 W MADISON STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandB3-312,375City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
104539 W VAN BUREN STCity / PublicINDVacant LandM1-234,590City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
114501 W LAKE STCity / PublicENTVacant LandPMD 924,810City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
123300 W MAYPOLE AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandRM-521,125City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
3249 W FULTON BLVDCity / PublicGOVVacant LandRT-417,999City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
3520 W FULTON BLVDCity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-411,344City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
3502 W FULTON BLVDCity / PublicGOVVacant LandRT-411,280City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗

+ 2,770 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
West Garfield Park carries 2,785 tracked vacant properties. 1,339 are City- or public-controlled and can move toward disposition without owner outreach; the remaining 1,446 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.