CSIM
Vacancy Opportunity Index

South Shore — Vacancy-to-Revitalization

Edition 3 / 9 · ZIP 60649 · As of July 22, 2026

Edition geography: ZIP 60649 (primarily South Shore). ZIP and community-area boundaries do not align exactly.

Scale of the challenge

693
Tracked vacant properties
82%
Ownership unverified
311-reported vacant buildings, not yet parcel-matched
18%
City / Public controlled

All tracked sites intersect at least one incentive geography

Site map — clustered tracked vacancies

Distress

Showing all 693 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)122
(b)311-reported vacant-building sitesService requests — ownership not attached571
(c)Assessor-classed vacant-land parcelsCook County Assessor vacant-land classification366

Sources (a) and (b) together form the 693-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
122
Unknown
571

Tracked list — land vs. building

122 vacant land (18%)571 reported buildings (311) (82%)

02 How the land sources overlap

City-inventory vacant-land parcels122
+Assessor-classed vacant-land parcels366
Parcels counted in both sources (City PIN matches)15
Unique land parcels (deduplicated union)473
  • 15 City PIN matches — parcels present in both land sources.
  • 107 City-inventory parcels outside the Assessor’s vacant-land classification (city land is mostly tax-exempt).
  • 351 Assessor parcels not found in the City inventory.

03 Who controls the vacant land

Ownership across the 473 unique land parcels above — the single “who controls” claim.

Corporate / LLC
76
Out-of-State Investor
61
Local Private
205
City / Public
122
Unknown
9
Total
473

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
Entity100150115
Individual214120226
Trust1001
Government150015
Unresolved9009
Total339270366

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

571311-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 file164 parcels · latest 2015Vacant-building violations66 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.

0
Impossible on its face
Occupancy exemption on vacant LAND (class 1xx)
0 senior / freeze0 no transfer ≥10y
54
Plausible but stale
Occupancy exemption on a vacant BUILDING
28 senior / freeze54 no transfer ≥10y

Exemption tax year 2024

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 parcels122Disposition · RFP · CCLBA coordination · land assembly
Known private land parcels342Owner outreach and development partnerships
Unknown land parcels9Ownership and title verification
Reported buildings571Parcel 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
140 sites

This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 4 publicly controlled and 36 requiring verification.

4 land · 36 buildings16 tax-sale11 violations
240 sites

South Shore CCSA Corridor corridor: This cluster contains 40 vacant properties: 7 publicly controlled and 33 requiring verification.

7 land · 33 buildings5 tax-sale1 violations
321 sites

This cluster contains 21 vacant properties: 6 publicly controlled and 15 requiring verification.

6 land · 15 buildings5 tax-sale1 violations
421 sites

This cluster contains 21 vacant properties: 6 publicly controlled and 15 requiring verification.

6 land · 15 buildings4 tax-sale2 violations
521 sites

This cluster contains 21 vacant properties: 3 publicly controlled and 18 requiring verification.

3 land · 18 buildings5 tax-sale2 violations
621 sites

This cluster contains 21 vacant properties: 6 publicly controlled and 15 requiring verification.

6 land · 15 buildings7 tax-sale2 violations
721 sites

This cluster contains 21 vacant properties: 6 publicly controlled and 15 requiring verification.

6 land · 15 buildings3 tax-sale3 violations
821 sites

South Shore CCSA Corridor corridor: This cluster contains 21 vacant properties: 4 publicly controlled and 17 requiring verification.

4 land · 17 buildings1 tax-sale1 violations
920 sites

Calumet Hts/Avalon corridor: This cluster contains 20 vacant properties: 10 publicly controlled and 10 requiring verification.

10 land · 10 buildings2 tax-sale1 violations
1020 sites

Calumet Hts/Avalon corridor: This cluster contains 20 vacant properties: 2 publicly controlled and 18 requiring verification.

2 land · 18 buildings3 tax-sale5 violations
1120 sites

This cluster contains 20 vacant properties: 1 publicly controlled and 19 requiring verification.

1 land · 19 buildings3 tax-sale
1220 sites

Calumet Hts/Avalon corridor: This cluster contains 20 vacant properties: 20 requiring verification.

0 land · 20 buildings3 tax-sale2 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
12605 E 75TH STCity / PublicINDVacant LandB3-213,652City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
27600 S COLFAX AVECity / PublicENTVacant LandRT-410,846City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
32440 E 75TH STCity / PublicENTVacant LandB3-210,702City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
42445 E 75TH STCity / PublicENTVacant LandB3-210,248City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
57117 S EUCLID AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRT-410,720City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
61744 E 75TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandC1-29,375City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
77619 S KINGSTON AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandRT-47,471City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
86717 S CLYDE AVECity / PublicINDVacant LandRM-56,636City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
97619 S PAXTON AVECity / PublicUNRVacant LandRS-25,040City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
102212 E 68TH STCity / PublicENTVacant LandRM-59,685City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
111668 E 71ST STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandC2-20City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
127038 S PAXTON AVECity / PublicGOVVacant LandRM-50City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
2524 E 79TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandB3-20City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
2826 E 79TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandB3-20City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗
2828 E 79TH STCity / PublicGOVVacant LandB3-20City/CCLBA disposition inquiryCookViewer ↗ · Clerk ↗

+ 678 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
South Shore carries 693 tracked vacant properties. 122 are City- or public-controlled and can move toward disposition without owner outreach; the remaining 571 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.