1870 S Blue Island Ave - Pilsen Redevelopment Opportunity
1870 S Blue Island Ave, Chicago, IL 60608 - Value Add Opportunity
Marketing description
CBRE, Inc. is exclusively representing the sale of 1870 S Blue Island Avenue ("The Property"), a compelling adaptive reuse and redevelopment opportunity located in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. The Property is a three-story, ±12,300 square foot masonry building constructed in 1899, originally developed as a physician's clinic serving the Pilsen community. The ground floor featured a welcoming reception area and patient waiting room, while the second floor was subdivided into individual examination rooms — each outfitted with its own sink, reflecting the building's thoughtful original design. The third floor currently functions as an extra-large ±2,300 SF owner's residence, demonstrating the building's natural adaptability across uses.
Despite its storied history, the Property has been modernized with updated building systems, offering the next owner the rare combination of authentic Chicago masonry character and infrastructure ready for conversion. The Property is currently vacant and delivered free of long-term encumbrances, providing a clean canvas for a developer or investor to execute their vision without operational disruption.
Pilsen is one of Chicago's most dynamic and rapidly evolving neighborhoods, recognized nationally for its vibrant arts scene, diverse culinary culture, and growing desirability among young professionals and creative-class residents. The neighborhood has seen consistent rent growth and increasing investor interest as infill residential development opportunities have become increasingly scarce. 1870 S Blue Island Avenue is ideally positioned to capitalize on this momentum.
This offering presents an outstanding opportunity for developers and investors to reposition a historically significant Pilsen asset into market-rate residential units. The building's generous floor plates, robust masonry construction, and flexible room-by-room layout lend themselves naturally to a residential conversion program. The development program remains entirely at the buyer's discretion, allowing maximum flexibility to pursue the highest and best use consistent with local zoning and market demand.
The Property's C1-2 (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning designation provides considerable flexibility for the intended residential conversion. Under Chicago's C1-2 classification, ground-floor retail or commercial uses are permitted alongside upper-floor residential — making the building ideally suited for a mixed-use program that capitalizes on its high-visibility corner location at 18th Street and Blue Island Avenue. This zoning further supports higher residential density than standard residential districts, giving a buyer-developer meaningful latitude to maximize unit count and optimize the overall program for market demand.
Investment highlights
- Adaptive Reuse / Redevelopment Opportunity in the Heart of Pilsen
- Historic 1899 Masonry Building — Modern Building Systems
- Market-Rate Residential Conversion — Buyer to Determine Program
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