# Finding Chicago-owned land & properties The City of Chicago has an inventory of tens of thousands of properties, most of which are vacant lots. The Chicago Department of Planning & Development (DPD) maintains and publishes the inventory, which is updated several times a year as properties are disposed (sold to a private entity or transferred to another form of government) or acquired. This Knowledge Base articles describes two ways to find city-owned property: 1. Regular way 2. ChiBlockBuilder way ## Regular Chicago-owned land filter The City of Chicago land inventory has tens of thousands of properties. The vast majority are vacant lots are not actively marketed for sale, but the city has [multiple programs to dispose of its property](https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/city-owned-land-sale-programs.html) (including ANLAP and City Lots For Working Families). There is a Property Finder filter to find city-owned property (use the screenshot below as a guide): 1. Open Property Finder and scroll down to the filters box that loads below the data table. 2. Look for the heading, "Gov't land" (see Screenshot 1). 3. Select the "Chicago-owned land (present)" checkbox in the list. (It's possible to look for both Chicago-owned land and CCLBA-associated properties at the same time.) 4. Then tick the "Apply filters" checkbox. The map and data table will refresh after a moment and show Chicago-owned lots. Chicago-owned properties are denoted on the map by a thick black outline. In the map and in the table, text will indicate what the property's status is and when the city last updated that status.  *Screenshot 1 showing the government-owned land filter* ## ChiBlockBuilder In 2023, the City of Chicago created the new ChiBlockBuilder system of advertising property that the city is ready to sell (which is partially dependent on a lot's environmental quality) and accepting applications for those properties. Properties are released in rounds, multiple times a year, with specific deadlines. Many properties also have a desired use assigned to them. [Read about ChiBlockBuilder on our blog](http://chicagocityscape.com/blog/chicago-launches-new-map-to-consolidate-vacant-land-sale-programs-d9e7b004d2). Chicago Cityscape updates its database when each round of properties is published (we archive the previous round). There is a Property Finder filter to find property available through ChiBlockBuilder (see *screenshot 2* below as a guide): 1. Open Property Finder and scroll down to the filters box that loads below the data table. 2. Look for the heading, "ChiBlockBuilder" (see *screenshot 2*). 3. Select the "For sale" checkbox in the list. 4. Then select the "Apply filters" radio button. The map and data table will refresh after a moment and show the ChiBlockBuilder properties for sale. A new column of data will appear with information about the property, and an application link. Tip: You can use any of Property Finder's other filters in conjunction with ChiBlockBuilder filters.  *Screenshot 2 showing the ChiBlockBuilder filter* ### Rounds of ChiBlockBuilder property releases - 106 properties (many as part of different clusters) were released on November 1, 2023, having deadlines on either November 30, 2023, or January 12, 2024. - 378 properties were released on April 1, 2024, having deadlines of either May 17 or July 1, 2024. - 351 properties were released on October 1, 2024, having deadlines of November 15, 2024, January 2, 2025, or January 31, 2025. This round also had the Missing Middle sites in North Lawndale. - 375 properties were released on April 1, 2025, having deadlines of either May 16 or June 30, 2025. This round had the Missing Middle sites on the Far South Side. ## Related articles - [[Tax-exempt properties]] - [[Cook County Land Bank Authority|Find properties in the Cook County Land Bank Authority inventory]] - [[Vacant properties]]