CSIM
Vacancy Opportunity Index

Austin — Vacancy-to-Revitalization

Edition 6 / 9 · ZIP 60644 · As of August 13, 2026

Edition geography: ZIP 60644 (primarily Austin). ZIP and community-area boundaries do not align exactly.

Scale of the challenge

1,546
Tracked vacant properties
61%
Ownership unverified
311-reported vacant buildings, not yet parcel-matched
39%
City / Public controlled

All tracked sites intersect at least one incentive geography

Site map — clustered tracked vacancies

Showing all 1,546 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)609
(b)311-reported vacant-building sitesService requests — ownership not attached937
(c)Assessor-classed vacant-land parcelsCook County Assessor vacant-land classification869

Sources (a) and (b) together form the 1,546-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
609
Unknown
937

Tracked list — land vs. building

609 vacant land (39%)937 reported buildings (311) (61%)

02 How the land sources overlap

City-inventory vacant-land parcels609
+Assessor-classed vacant-land parcels869
Parcels counted in both sources (City PIN matches)135
Unique land parcels (deduplicated union)1,343
  • 135 City PIN matches — parcels present in both land sources.
  • 474 City-inventory parcels outside the Assessor’s vacant-land classification (city land is mostly tax-exempt).
  • 734 Assessor parcels not found in the City inventory.

03 Who controls the vacant land

Ownership across the 1,343 unique land parcels above — the single “who controls” claim.

Corporate / LLC
111
Out-of-State Investor
73
Local Private
528
City / Public
609
Unknown
22
Total
1,343

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
Entity131130144
Individual528290557
Trust7007
Government13900139
Unresolved220022
Total827420869

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

937311-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 parcels609Disposition · RFP · CCLBA coordination · land assembly
Known private land parcels712Owner outreach and development partnerships
Unknown land parcels22Ownership and title verification
Reported buildings937Parcel 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
195 sites

Village:AustinChgoAvCCorr corridor: This cluster contains 95 vacant properties: 55 publicly controlled and 40 requiring verification.

55 land · 40 buildings
248 sites

Roosevelt/Cicero corridor: This cluster contains 48 vacant properties: 17 publicly controlled and 31 requiring verification.

17 land · 31 buildings
348 sites

West Garfield Park corridor: This cluster contains 48 vacant properties: 10 publicly controlled and 38 requiring verification.

10 land · 38 buildings
448 sites

This cluster contains 48 vacant properties: 12 publicly controlled and 36 requiring verification.

12 land · 36 buildings
548 sites

Northwest corridor: This cluster contains 48 vacant properties: 23 publicly controlled and 25 requiring verification.

23 land · 25 buildings
647 sites

Roosevelt/Cicero corridor: This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 11 publicly controlled and 36 requiring verification.

11 land · 36 buildings
747 sites

Roosevelt/Cicero corridor: This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 35 publicly controlled and 12 requiring verification.

35 land · 12 buildings
847 sites

This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 19 publicly controlled and 28 requiring verification.

19 land · 28 buildings
947 sites

West Garfield Park corridor: This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 8 publicly controlled and 39 requiring verification.

8 land · 39 buildings
1047 sites

This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 11 publicly controlled and 36 requiring verification.

11 land · 36 buildings
1147 sites

This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 13 publicly controlled and 34 requiring verification.

13 land · 34 buildings
1247 sites

This cluster contains 47 vacant properties: 10 publicly controlled and 37 requiring verification.

10 land · 37 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
14603 W WEST END AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandM1-226,250City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
2201 N CENTRAL AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-417,841City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
34701 W MAYPOLE AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRS-318,405City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
44706 W HARRISON STCity / PublicENTVacant LandM1-215,045City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
5625 N CICERO AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-111,461City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
64647 W POLK STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandM1-273,224City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
74647 W POLK STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandM2-273,011City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
8335 N MENARD AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandPD 58230,627City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
930 N WALLER AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandRM-618,146City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
10300 N MENARD AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandRS-310,224City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
11160 N MENARD AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-411,552City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
125918 W HURON STCity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-411,302City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
5062 W LAKE STCity / PublicENTVacant LandPMD 96,599City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
5108 W LAKE STCity / PublicENTVacant LandPMD 95,846City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
358 N CICERO AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandPMD 95,572City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗

+ 1,531 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
Austin carries 1,546 tracked vacant properties. 609 are City- or public-controlled and can move toward disposition without owner outreach; the remaining 937 carry unverified ownership (311-reported buildings) and start with parcel matching and ownership verification. 1,546 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.