From parcel to pro forma
LotGrade applies district and overlay rules to your parcel, draws the buildable zoning envelope, and quantifies unit count, with every figure linked to the cited code. Then it weighs the bonuses, relief and rezoning precedent the lot can draw on, and helps price the result in a pro forma.
Every parcel in Chicago today. More markets in progress.
Per-parcel analysis is invite-only while we onboard our first markets. I have an account.
What you get
Filter the whole city by district, lot size, owner and unused buildable area to surface the parcels carrying far less building than their zoning allows. Open one and the public record comes with it: owner, taxpayer and chain of title, assessed value, appeals and tax sale status, past rezonings, permits, inspections and violations.
The buildable envelope on the lot’s real shape — setbacks, height, floor area ratio and the rear yard open space the district requires — drawn to scale, rotatable in 3D, every figure cited to the ordinance. Preview the lot under another district, or turn on the adjustments and bonuses it qualifies for, and the whole analysis re-runs.
Unit mix, comparable sales, costs and financing in one pro forma: sources and uses, net profit and margin. Keep the scenario on your account, share the link with its assumptions intact, export the pro forma to Excel or the diagram as a PNG.
How it works
Search an address and LotGrade pulls the parcel’s geometry and district, applies the rules that govern it, and shows the result — along with everything the public record says about the property.
Zoning analysis
FAR, density, height and each setback are computed from the adopted ordinance for the parcel in front of you — and every figure links to the section it came from, in our full hosted copy of the code. Front setbacks are estimated from the neighbors’ actual front yards, not a rule of thumb.
Bonuses & relief
Transit-served parking reductions and by-right ADUs apply themselves where a lot qualifies. Administrative adjustments show what each would gain, a rezoning preview re-runs the whole analysis under another district, and the precedent read shows how comparable rezonings fared in that ward.
Feasibility
Pick a product type, pull arm’s-length comparable sales from the neighborhood, and set costs and financing. LotGrade returns sources and uses, net profit and margin, saves the scenario to your account, and exports to Excel.
Mockups picture each section with sample values — not a real property or deal. See everything in a Lot Report →
Who it’s for
Free tools
No account needed, and no paywall: the same ordinance and district rules the analyzer runs on, published for anyone to read.
Questions
Start with the zoning district, then work through the limits that apply to it: floor area ratio, minimum lot area per unit, height, and the front, side and rear setbacks. Whichever runs out first caps the building. LotGrade does that for a whole parcel at once and draws the result; the free zoning guides explain each limit.
Zoning and development analysis for a lot — or for several joined into one site. Search an address and it returns the buildable envelope, the unit count, the binding constraint, the bonuses and relief available, the ownership and permit record, and a development pro forma, each zoning figure cited to the ordinance.
Yes. Select contiguous parcels on the map and LotGrade analyzes them as the single site they would become — one envelope, one unit count, one pro forma. The line where two lots meet stops being a lot line once they are one site, so the side setbacks along it fall away, and a parcel that cannot meet the minimum lot area per unit on its own may clear it combined.
Every parcel in the City of Chicago today, and more markets are in progress — tell us where you work.
Yes. The Zoning Field Guide, the full Chicago zoning code and the zoning guides are free and need no account. Per-parcel analysis — the Lot Report — needs one.
No. A verification letter comes from the city and is what lenders and title companies rely on at closing. LotGrade is a screening and underwriting tool: use it to decide which sites to pursue, then get official confirmation on the one you buy.
The adopted zoning ordinance, the city’s open data (zoning districts, permits, violations, transit-served areas), the City Clerk’s rezoning records, and Cook County parcel and assessment data. Every report lists its sources.
Get started
Book a short demo and we’ll run one of your parcels end to end: what the code allows today, what a rezoning or an adjustment could unlock, and what the market would pay for it.