Near West Side Housing Inventory
Fall 1998
The Near West Side of Chicago has undergone extensive changes over the
last few years, with the construction of several new residential developments,
as well as social service and recreational facilities. To help guide continued
redevelopment, the Near West Side Development Corporation (NWSDC) has
created a revitalization plan for the neighborhood. The City Design Center
had assisted in Phase1 of the plan in 1997 by tracking vacant lots on
the Near West Side and analyzing the surrounding conditions. With this
basic database prepared, NWSDC again requested the services of the City
Design Center for Phase 2 of the project: to identify and gather information
on buildings suitable for redevelopment, and to research government and
banking programs to assist both redevelopers and homebuyers.
NWSDC specifically targeted a sector of the West Haven neighborhood, bounded
by Damen on the east, Western on the west, Madison on the north, and Van
Buren on the south. The City Design Center photographed the buildings
and recorded information such as the physical condition, type of rehabilitation
work needed, building occupancy, type of construction, and size of building.
The Center staff also researched the tax identification number and ownership
information of each property. This information was organized on a map
that located all of the properties in relation to each other and to organizations
and facilities in the neighborhood. The final report has been utilized
as marketing material in an attempt, according to Tom Forman, “to
promote development of the available land and buildings to small scale
developers.”
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Map of Chicago with project location
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City Design Center Affiliated Faculty
Tom Forman, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Architecture, and
Associate Director, City Design Center
Collaborating Organization
West Side Consortium
Funding
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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