News articles on CCLBA

By Joe Donlon & WGN Investigates  |  December 3rd, 2018   (Click here for the original article) CHICAGO — Owning a home is considered part of the American dream, but for tens of thousands of people in the Chicago area it has become a nightmare. It’s not their home that’s the problem; it’s neighbors' abandoned houses that sit vacant and decaying for years, lowering the surrounding property values in the process. Called "Zombie Houses," they are often left empty while they're stuck in a legal limbo. WGN Investigates what’s being done to bring these properties back from the dead. In addition [...]

By Aaron Gettinger, Hyde Park Herald  |  September 26th, 2018   (Click here for the original article) The Cook County Land Bank is selling the Washington Park National Bank Building in Woodlawn, 6300 S. Cottage Grove Ave., after conducting public listening meetings to see what the community wants from the space. The Land Bank, a government entity that acquires and sells financially distressed properties, usually tax delinquents at scavenger sales, is seeking requests for proposals on the 35,000-square-foot site, and will choose a buyer based on their plans for development. According to the Land Bank, the public expressed a desire for [...]

By Katherine Newman | September 26th, 2018  (Click here for the original article) The Cook County Land Bank Authority (the Land Bank) has issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) that calls for the renovation of the 94-year-old Washington Park National Bank Building located on the corner of 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. The Land Bank has set a number of guidelines and proposals are being accepted from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31 with a decision being made by Dec. 13. The once thriving 35,000-square-foot historical bank has been vacant for more than two decades and the Land Bank believes that [...]

By TJ Armour, N'Digo | August 20th, 2018 (Click here for the original article) Since its creation in 2013, the Cook County Land Bank Authorityhas worked hard to reverse the effects of the 2008 mortgage crisis by taking tax delinquent, vacant properties in south and west side neighborhoods and getting them back to a useful purpose. They've removed barriers that have existed for years in turning these properties around because they have the authority to quickly acquire them, eliminate all back taxes and fees associated with them and offer them to people in the community to purchase and rehab at below market [...]

By Corilyn Shropshire, Chicago Tribune | May 1st, 2018  (Click here for the original article) Continuing its quest to spruce up city and suburban neighborhoods, the Cook County Land Bank is putting 3,189 vacant lots up for sale. The lots will be made available at below-market rates to individuals, developers and organizations. The land bank is hoping those who buy the properties will redevelop them in ways that meet community needs, by creating amenities like public gardens, play lots and basketball courts. Most of the vacant lots are in areas hit hard by the 2008 foreclosure crisis and are delinquent on taxes. [...]

By Becky Vevea, WBEZ Chicago | May 1st, 2018  (Click here for the audio clip) More than 3,000 vacant, tax-delinquent properties across Cook County go up for sale Tuesday at below-market rates, as part of a government program to get blighted homes back on the tax rolls. It’s the latest move by the Cook County Land Bank Authority, which was formed in 2013 after the housing crash to deal with the tide of newly vacant and abandoned properties in Chicago and the suburbs. Officials there are hoping the addition of the 3,189 vacant lots to the land bank’s portfolio will further help break a [...]

By Katherine Newman | April 25, 2018  (Click here for the original article) Chicago’s Chesterfield Community Council recently hosted their 14th annual free Citywide Home Expo at the Tuley Park Field House located on 90th St. and King Drive. The Chesterfield Community Council is a community based non-profit organization that was started in 1955. The organization regularly organizes and participates in community activism along with hosting their annual Citywide Home Expo and the annual Silas Purnell College Expo. The free Home Expo was designed to bring Chicagoans together with all the housing-related resources that are available to them. “The motivation to do the [...]

By Becky Vevea, WBEZ Chicago | May 1st, 2018  (Click here for the audio clip) More than 3,000 vacant, tax-delinquent properties across Cook County go up for sale Tuesday at below-market rates, as part of a government program to get blighted homes back on the tax rolls. It’s the latest move by the Cook County Land Bank Authority, which was formed in 2013 after the housing crash to deal with the tide of newly vacant and abandoned properties in Chicago and the suburbs. Officials there are hoping the addition of the 3,189 vacant lots to the land bank’s portfolio will further help break a [...]

By Danny Ecker, Crain's Business Chicago | February 1, 2018  (Click here for the original article) A Cook County agency designed to give new life to distressed houses is getting into the commercial property game, with its first such project just blocks from the site of the future Obama Presidential Center. After acquiring the deed last month to the dilapidated former Washington Park National Bank building in Woodlawn, the Cook County Land Bank tonight will hold the first of three community meetings about the property to gather feedback on what it should become. The 94-year-old structure on the southwest corner of [...]

By Mary L. Datcher, Chicago Defender | February 1, 2018  (Click here for the original article) In 2010, Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer noticed something out of the ordinary—calls were coming in more frequently about constituents challenged with losing their homes. Aware of the housing market collapse and predator loan practices by banks, long-time home owners were seeking assistance from their public officials. “People were calling me, they’re getting letters from the bank. People were worried if they had to move out that day—a lot of uncertainty. To be honest, the banks didn’t really know what to do. Half way through [...]