We made something for every member in summer 2023

Head into 2023 Q4 equipped with even more information at your fingertips

Take a moment to skim the ten new or updated features we created in the previous quarter. There is improved data for property finders (i.e. developers and brokers), architects, community-based organizations, residential and commercial brokers, and zoning and land use attorneys and analysts.

• 92,000 properties in Cook County now have owner names. These are tax-exempt properties owned by municipalities, hospitals, places of worship, universities, and other organizations. Read more.
• Aggregate Studio created a massing diagram and suggested unit layout for the new product type that the city’s zoning code re-legalized in 2022. Check out the “Standard 8-3” (8 units, ~3 parking spots, on standard lot).
• Nearly 30,000 properties were transferred in the last quarter, and the details of each transaction are now in our database. Plus, we made it so you can filter for properties that have a description in Line 10R of the PTAX form (which helps determine arms length status and other attributes that appraisers may want to review). Read more.
• In Surrounding Places, which shows the boundaries that contain a Property Report you look up or that overlap a Place Report you look up, the date on which a Planned Development in Chicago was established will appear — this helps identify new and major nearby developments.
• New: Housing & Landmarks Snapshot now accompanies Property and Place Reports. The affordable housing and landmarks datasets have been moved to here. Additionally, the snapshot summarizes ADU construction statistics for Chicago-based locations, and summarizes tax-exempt property counts by their owners.
• New: For the first time, we have a glossary of all of Chicago’s zoning districts and the allowed uses in each. This will help with using Property Finder and deciding which zoning districts to use to narrow the search.

Updated datasets

• We added schools for the 2023–2024 school year across Illinois to our database, which appears in every Property Report, Place Report, and our statewide schools map. Read more.
• We updated the amenities (restaurants, doctor offices, libraries, etc.), adding 1,000 new places, to Amenities & Social infrastructure, which appears in every Property Report and Place Report. Read more.
• Our building footprints map has been updated, and a new Property Finder filter added, which is another way to find truly vacant lots. (Occasionally the “vacant land” classification is a year or two behind.)
• Incentives Checker is now up to 38 financial & development incentives with the addition of areas related to tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. This should be useful to community-based organizations, commercial real estate owners, and affordable housing developers. Read more.

We made something for every member in summer 2023 was originally published in Chicago Cityscape’s Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.