Find developable lots for sale in Chicago in three clicks

The three clicks is a promise. First, open a Chicago-based Place Report; Property Finder will open automatically. (For example, open Near West Side community area.)

  1. In the Property Finder filters, select the “Developable lots” filter. 
  2. In the “Listing status” filter, tick the checkboxes for each of the property types you want to find. 
  3. Select the “Apply filters” button. 

In a moment, Chicago Cityscape will show you a map and data table of developable lots for sale in Chicago. The information shown to you will also include a calculation of how many homes each property allows based on its current zoning district. 

These filters combined can find excellent new construction and redevelopment opportunities. For example, we found a one-story commercial building for sale in the West Loop which is zoned to allow seven apartments or condos. 

screenshot of Property Finder filters


You might be wondering, what’s a developable lot? Our definition of developable lots comprises properties that meet all of these criteria:

  • Low-intensity land use (parking lots, one-story commercial buildings, side yard, vacant lots, car repair and gas stations)
  • In a zoning district with an FAR of 2.0 or higher, which means that a building on the property can have a floor area of two times, or more, the lot area. Or is in an RM-5, RM-5.5, RM-6, or RM-6.5 zoning district.
  • Within a transit-served location (meaning within 1/2 mile of a CTA or Metra rail station, or within 1/4 mile of a CTA bus route that has higher-frequency service in the middle of the day). 

Chicago Cityscape updates properties for sale once a day; the criteria listed above are updated as needed or as properties change. 

Wrapped! But for Chicago building permits

Chicago Cityscape presents its first multimedia Chicago Permits Wrapped , looking at building permit activity in Chicago in 2023. Watch it as a video , sift through the slideshow on our website, download it as a PDF , or read the Wrapped highlights below. Topline figures are that in 2023 the Cit...

Read the post

Find property sales that are arms length transactions

Chicago Cityscape added a new filter in Property Finder and Property Sales Browser that filters out sales that are likely not arms length transactions. We are excited to offer this to our members who are brokers and appraisers as this will make it easier to identify incomparable sales. 

To find arms-length transactions we are using most of the filters that the Cook County Assessor's Office uses. Our filter uses the following flags to identify if a property is not arms length:

  • sale price of $10,000 or less
  • uses a quit claim deed, executor deed, or beneficial interest instrument
  • has no instrument type specified
  • has a value for any of nine Line 10 items in the PTAX-203 form

Use the checkbox in Property Finder and Property Sales Browser to exclude property sales that are likely not arms length transactions.

In one of our tests we found that 17 percent of property sales in the Near West Side community area had one or more of the flags and were not considered to be an arms length transaction. 

Show Previous EntriesShow Previous Entries