Chicago launches new map to consolidate vacant land sale programs

ChiBlockBuilder is a new initiative from the City of Chicago to sell vacant, city-owned land faster as well as consolidate multiple land purchase programs. It starts with a brand-new website and, for the first time, a map of vacant lots the city has readied for sale.

ChiBlockBuilder’s map shows over 9,000 vacant, city-owned lots but only 2,214 are currently for sale. These have been vetted, so to speak; the city has verified it owns them, that the properties aren’t needed for another initiative or development, and that they have passed a limited environmental database review for conspicuous environmental hazards.

There are four categories of vacant lot uses that the city is promoting. I’ll focus first on the one that’s most similar to the former Large Lots program. Today it’s called “Side Yard”. Side Yard lots are available for purchase by an owner-occupant of an adjacent property for the “neighbor price” 90 percent off market value. The new map lists both the market value and the neighbor price, preempting inquiries about prices.

Adjacent explicitly means a vacant lot that touches either the right or left side of the resident’s property. (Large Lots allowed owners of property on the same block or across the alley to acquire, regardless of residency status — this is no longer the case.)

All CBB properties are in Chicago Cityscape’s Property Finder. See next section.

The map is the foundational part of the new program; excepting the former Large Lots program, the city has not had a public map of land it owned, let alone a map of land it was willing to sell. Developers participating in the City Lots for Working Families (CL4WF) program (and its predecessors) and business owners who wanted to expand a site or swap land with the city had to come up with other ways, like working with an alderperson who would ask the planning department for input on which lots it could sell to the developer.

One issue in Large Lots was that essentially all lots in a neighborhood were advertised for sale, but many were removed or blocked from sale by alderpersons or the planning department upon determining that there were other intentions for those lots. Large Lots quietly disappeared when city staff in charge of liability and environmental safety blocked sales on account of many of the lots being contaminated or potentially contaminated.

A criticism expressed about ChiBlockBuilder is that the adjacency rule is too restrictive, and doesn’t give a chance to people who are already caring for a vacant lot down the block to formally acquire the lot. (This was brought up to city officials at a recent Resident Association of Greater Englewood village meeting.)

Use Property Finder filters to find the best ChiBlockBuilder lot

Chicago Cityscape has integrated the ChiBlockBuilder data into Property Finder. The same filters — lot size, existing zoning, ADU potential, and incentives — can be applied. You can use a place-based map, like a ward, community area, or ZIP code, or our citywide map.

1. Open a Place Snapshot. Non-members have access to a “sample sized” Place Snapshot of an area in North Lawndale.
2. Select the “Property Finder” button below the map. After the data table loads, the map will show 25 properties, ordered by PIN.
3. Scroll down to below the data table where the Property Finder filters area. Look for the third row of filters titled “Chicago-only” and select the ChiBlockBuilder’s filter to show “For sale” properties. Then select the “Apply filters” button.
4. Scroll up to the map or data table to look at the first of 25 city-owned vacant lots that are ready for sale. (In the sample, there will be 20 lots.)

Now it’s up to you: what other development parameters do you want to use to narrow the results? Change the filters to show only “RM” zoning districts and “Chicago TOD/TSL” to find only those lots that are already zoned for more housing and are near train stations or higher-frequency bus routes.

You’ll notice that just about every ChiBlockBuilder property says that applications are open for “any use allowed by zoning”. That’s another area where Chicago Cityscape shines: our database of every property and zoning district in Chicago means that, within seconds, the platform can tell which “uses” are allowed at every property you’re prospecting.

Open any property’s Address Snapshot report and scroll down to Zoning Assessment to search that list. Try keywords like “cannabis”, “animal hospital”, “garden”, and “gift shop”. (Only housing, gardens, and a few other uses are allowed on vacant lots in residential zones; no shops, no cannabis businesses, and no animal hospital.)

Start a free, 14-day trial of Cityscape Real Estate Pro to gain full access to the ChiBlockBuilder + Property Finder filters.

Other ChiBlockBuilder uses

Neighboring property owners acquiring adjacent vacant lots are only one type of intended use of ChiBlockBuilder. Chicago’s planning department is promoting three other uses: housing, commercial development, and open space.

The Housing use brings the existing City Lots for Working Families program into ChiBlockBulder. This program, which has gone by different names over the last two decades, sells lots for $1 each to developers who will build affordable (for sale or rental) housing on them.

Commercial Development is for business owners, non-profit organizations, or developers with experience constructing similar projects, and is available to those buyers who have a proposal. Lots for commercial development will be sold at market value. (The MV has already been determined and is shown on the map.)

The fourth use type is Open Space. Eligible buyers are residents, non-profit organizations, and next-door business owners who have a detailed proposal, budget, and documented support from neighbors. These lots will be sold at 10 percent of market value (same as the “neighbor price”).

The Chicago planning department is hosting three upcoming webinars (all require instant registration via Zoom):

• 12/8/2022-10:30 a.m. (English)
• 12/8/2022-3:30 p.m. (Español)
• 1/12/2023-10:30 a.m. (English)

Chicago launches new map to consolidate vacant land sale programs was originally published in Chicago Cityscape’s Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.