CSIM
Vacancy Opportunity Index

West Englewood — Vacancy-to-Revitalization

Edition 9 / 9 · ZIP 60636 · As of July 22, 2026

Edition geography: ZIP 60636 (primarily West Englewood). ZIP and community-area boundaries do not align exactly.

Scale of the challenge

3,085
Tracked vacant properties
55%
Ownership unverified
311-reported vacant buildings, not yet parcel-matched
45%
City / Public controlled

All tracked sites intersect at least one incentive geography

Site map — clustered tracked vacancies

Distress

Showing 2,000 of 3,085

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)1,401
(b)311-reported vacant-building sitesService requests — ownership not attached1,684
(c)Assessor-classed vacant-land parcelsCook County Assessor vacant-land classification2,900

Sources (a) and (b) together form the 3,085-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
1,401
Unknown
1,684

Tracked list — land vs. building

1,401 vacant land (45%)1,684 reported buildings (311) (55%)

02 How the land sources overlap

City-inventory vacant-land parcels1,401
+Assessor-classed vacant-land parcels2,900
Parcels counted in both sources (City PIN matches)225
Unique land parcels (deduplicated union)4,076
  • 225 City PIN matches — parcels present in both land sources.
  • 1,176 City-inventory parcels outside the Assessor’s vacant-land classification (city land is mostly tax-exempt).
  • 2,675 Assessor parcels not found in the City inventory.

03 Who controls the vacant land

Ownership across the 4,076 unique land parcels above — the single “who controls” claim.

Corporate / LLC
398
Out-of-State Investor
312
Local Private
1,831
City / Public
1,405
Unknown
130
Total
4,076

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 4.

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
Entity476370513
Individual1,9128802,000
Trust134017
Government23510236
Unresolved13400134
Total2,77013002,900

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

1,684311-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 file2,165 parcels · latest 2015Vacant-building violations274 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.

4
Impossible on its face
Occupancy exemption on vacant LAND (class 1xx)
0 senior / freeze4 no transfer ≥10y
235
Plausible but stale
Occupancy exemption on a vacant BUILDING
74 senior / freeze235 no transfer ≥10y

Exemption tax year 2024 · land exempt EAV ~40,000 (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 parcels1,405Disposition · RFP · CCLBA coordination · land assembly
Known private land parcels2,541Owner outreach and development partnerships
Unknown land parcels130Ownership and title verification
Reported buildings1,684Parcel 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
192 sites

This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 32 publicly controlled and 60 requiring verification.

32 land · 60 buildings30 tax-sale11 violations
292 sites

This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 68 publicly controlled and 24 requiring verification.

68 land · 24 buildings11 tax-sale4 violations
392 sites

This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 49 publicly controlled and 43 requiring verification.

49 land · 43 buildings25 tax-sale4 violations
492 sites

Englewood corridor: This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 60 publicly controlled and 32 requiring verification.

60 land · 32 buildings6 tax-sale5 violations
592 sites

This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 48 publicly controlled and 44 requiring verification.

48 land · 44 buildings26 tax-sale12 violations
692 sites

This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 65 publicly controlled and 27 requiring verification.

65 land · 27 buildings17 tax-sale6 violations
792 sites

Englewood corridor: This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 51 publicly controlled and 41 requiring verification.

51 land · 41 buildings15 tax-sale11 violations
892 sites

Englewood corridor: This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 41 publicly controlled and 51 requiring verification.

41 land · 51 buildings22 tax-sale4 violations
992 sites

This cluster contains 92 vacant properties: 30 publicly controlled and 62 requiring verification.

30 land · 62 buildings30 tax-sale6 violations
1091 sites

This cluster contains 91 vacant properties: 43 publicly controlled and 48 requiring verification.

43 land · 48 buildings16 tax-sale6 violations
1191 sites

Englewood corridor: This cluster contains 91 vacant properties: 64 publicly controlled and 27 requiring verification.

64 land · 27 buildings8 tax-sale6 violations
1291 sites

Englewood corridor: This cluster contains 91 vacant properties: 61 publicly controlled and 30 requiring verification.

61 land · 30 buildings19 tax-sale5 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
16908 S RACINE AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandB1-113,787City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
25820 S DAMEN AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandRM-537,893City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
36401 S BELL AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandM1-254,847City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
41247 W GARFIELD BLVDCity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-411,214City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
51243 W 69TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandRS-36,206City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
65705 S ASHLAND AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandC2-25,472City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
71639 W 69TH STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-37,196City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
85614 S RACINE AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandB1-16,313City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
91300 W 57TH STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-36,066City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
101335 W GARFIELD BLVDCity / PublicENTVacant LandRT-46,018City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
115659 S JUSTINE STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-35,854City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
126601 S PAULINA STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-35,523City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
1759 W GARFIELD BLVDCity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-47,366City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
7338 S WOOD STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-26,255City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
6556 S HONORE STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-35,249City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗

+ 3,070 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 Englewood carries 3,085 tracked vacant properties. 1,401 are City- or public-controlled and can move toward disposition without owner outreach; the remaining 1,684 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.