Major zoning updates for PMDs

We just launched major zoning updates to Chicago Cityscape to enable our members to find property in Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMDs), understand zoning permissions, and understand the difference between PMD subareas. 

Planned Manufacturing Districts were established in 1988. Eventually, 14 additional PMDs were created but Clybourn Corridor – the first – has since been dissolved. PMDs cannot be rezoned to other classifications but parts of them can be repealed. This steady zoning classification, and the limited variety of allowed uses, keeps land values low, making it easier for businesses that require large areas of land to afford to stick around. 

Prior to today, Chicago Cityscape provided very limited information to its members about PMDs and the properties within them, but more of our members have expressed interest in these areas. (Specifically, we have gathered feedback from CRE brokers and zoning attorneys that supported developing these updates.)


Here's a summary of what you can now do or see on Chicago Cityscape:

  • List and map all Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMDs). Then, in any PMD's Place Snapshot page you can use Property Finder to locate a property that meets your needs.
  • List and map all PMD subareas (each subarea has a different list of allowed zoning uses) - We have PMD subareas for the first time, and when you look at the Place Snapshot for a PMD subarea, there's are two handy links: one to the "parent" PMD, to show the combined boundary, and the second to the other subarea.

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Additionally, we've updated the maps for the PMDs and their subareas:

  • Updated boundaries for all PMDs that changed in the last few years (some PMDs, like Kinzie, were modified due to "modernization" of the boundaries based on changes in the real estate market; others changed because of new Planned Developments being carved out, like the new Lagunitas brewery in the Pilsen PMD)
  • Chicago Cityscape is keeping a copy of the previous boundaries for all PMDs that changed in the last few years (for the reasons described above). You'll see these labeled as "Prior to [year]". A note on that newer PMD's Place Snapshot page will indicate what changed to create the current boundary.