600 vacant city lots to hit the market Wednesday, including 55 for affordable housing

More than 600 empty Chicago lots across 25 wards will hit the market for private purchase, the Department of Planning and Development announced Tuesday.

The $34 million in lots includes 30 parcels in West Englewood and South Chicago for Missing Middle housing — a program started in 2024 aimed at turning vacant city land into housing for working middle-class families — and a 2.6-acre site in Austin that could support up to 140 new homes, according to the city agency.

They’ll go up for sale Wednesday on the city’s land sale portal ChiBlockBuilder.com, alongside about 7,000 other available properties.

“These parcels offer unique opportunities for buyers to take ownership of their neighborhoods and contribute to local development goals,” said Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Ciere Boatright.

Approximately 500 lots will be put up at market rates for new projects: 55 for affordable housing, through the Chicago Department of Housing’s City Lots for Working Families program, and 66 for side yards, open space or urban agriculture, the agency said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson touted what the agency said was the largest spring inventory since the online portal launched in 2022 as a path to create more affordable housing.

"By making underutilized and vacant land available for residential construction and other uses, we are creating pathways to make housing more affordable while increasing housing availability citywide,” Johnson said.

The Missing Middle lots are set to become “owner-occupied residential buildings” with up to six units each along 69th Street in West Englewood and along South Baker and Buffalo Avenues in South Chicago, the agency said. The lots, which will be geared toward "market rate housing developers," come with up to $150,000 in construction assistance per unit and each parcel will be sold for $1.

The Austin site, which the city called “one of the largest contiguous development sites on the far West Side,” includes 47 lots earmarked for development as townhomes or multifamily buildings.

Applications for the lots are due in either 45 or 90 days.