Chicago Cityscape has two products, and both have a free trial:
- Cityscape Permits — oriented to contractors and prospective homebuyers
- Cityscape Pro — for architects, developers, and brokers
What’s the difference? We’re glad you asked. Here’s a breakdown of features:
Cityscape Permits
- access to all building permits, including who the contractors and subcontractors are
- export/download all permits and violations data
- access to Demolitions Tracker
- daily demolitions newsletter
- access to every contractor’s and subcontractor’s work history (going back to 2006)
- part of this work history is a list of who else that contractor has worked with (owners, developers, and subs)
- 50 address lookups each day (that’s 47 more than the free account offers)
- unlimited notifications for companies and Places
Cityscape Pro
- everything in Cityscape Permits that’s listed above
- checkup of financial incentives for any address or property in Illinois (most advantageous in Chicago, however, where there are the most incentives)
- property ownership information
- property tax information & history
- unlimited address lookups each day
- an estimate of how long a zoning change will take
- summaries of upcoming zoning changes, including who’s applying for it, what they’re proposing to build, and where
- highly detailed zoning maps for a given target area
- export all data for Excel and GIS
- additional tips & insights about local regulations
- unlimited notifications for companies, Places, and addresses
Cityscape members who pay on a single card can get discounted memberships for their colleagues who work for the same company or organization. Contact us to sign them up and add them to your primary account.
- Cityscape Permits: $99 per year for the first member in your group, $69 for the second, $59 for the third and fourth. Total: $286 per year
- Cityscape Pro: $269 per year for the first member in your group, $179 for the second, $169 for the third and fourth members. Total: $786 per year
You can also get the discounted memberships on the monthly payment option, but we’ve left those out for brevity.
Non-profit organizations that are registered with the State of Illinois can receive a 30 percent discount. This group also includes the offices of elected officials, Chambers of Commerce, and Special Service Areas or other business improvement district operators.