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Correction appended May 19, 2025

The buildings have sat empty for 12 years.

Several are architecturally significant with striking details and character taking up multiple city blocks. But many are in rough shape, with copper stripped from the pipes, broken windows, and graffiti covering walls. One had to be torn down after an extra-alarm fire last year.

Now, Chicago Public Schools aims to sell the former schools, , with the hopes of seeing them repurposed and the possibility of bringing in around $8.2 million and avoiding spending more on future upkeep.

鈥淥ur goal is not to sell them for the highest dollar amount, really. It鈥檚 to find the most responsible, compatible use,鈥� said Stephen Stults, director of real estate for CPS. 鈥淲hat we get paid, of course, helps with our budget challenges. But they鈥檝e been sitting there long enough, and we need to do everything we can to try to get them repurposed.鈥�

The solicitation for bids, which are due May 30, . Each property includes a minimum bid and all properties have schools on them with the exception of one on the Near West Side.

That property, the , has a minimum bid of $1.3 million and sits about five blocks from the United Center in an area poised for , called the , a nod to the sports stadium鈥檚 address.

The city demolished the school building last fall in late May. Prior to the fire, CPS put the building on the market and received just one bid for $1, which was 鈥渂elow what the district was willing to accept.鈥� Demolition cost the district $1.25 million.

All of the properties have deed restrictions that do not allow them to be used as a K-12 charter or school or for the sale of liquor or tobacco products.

Stults said CPS spends between $100,000 and $150,000 to maintain and secure each vacant school per year. That鈥檚 at least $2 million annually for the past 12 years 鈥� or $24 million. The ongoing expense comes as CPS is currently in order to close a $529 million deficit for the coming school year.

Even though many vacant schools are not in great condition, Stults said the 鈥渂ones of the buildings鈥� are good. Demolition may be expensive, but so is rebuilding a core structure. After the deadline, he said the district will consider all bids and select the two 鈥渉ighest and most responsible鈥� to present to the school board, as required by state law. Stults anticipates bringing some building sales to the board before the end of the calendar year.

If there is no demand for certain vacant schools, he added, the district plans to reach out to sister agencies, such as the Chicago Park District, to see if they鈥檙e interested in the properties.

Vacant schools are a visible reminder of the 2013 closures, which disproportionally impacted Black children from low-income families and led to further population loss. Many community groups and neighbors near these properties have called for reinvestment in these public assets for many years.

Efforts to sell and repurpose old CPS schools a mixed bag

Following the , then-mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennet appointed a committee to develop guidelines for school repurposing and community development. Their laid out potential uses for each vacant school and recommended a process for repurposing.

CPS put and sold two dozen properties in subsequent years for a collective $38 million. Some have been redeveloped into or . One was torn down to and another was .

More recently, the former after a more than $40 million renovation supported by city, state, and philanthropic money. The former Overton Elementary in Grand Boulevard on the south side with weekend market events and a community garden.

Ghian Foreman, a managing partner with the Washington Park Development Group, which has , said they will begin renovations to convert the building into offices later this year as soon as the city grants the permits.

鈥淚t鈥檚 harder than you think it is,鈥� Foreman said. 鈥淭his has been a really long process of learning. You have to really be committed, and you have to ensure that you have the resources to see it all the way through.鈥�

Many vacant schools shuttered a decade ago have garnered interest from buyers and community proposals. But actual redevelopment has stalled for myriad reasons.

Some schools up for sale now had buyers previously, but the sales never went through. For example, the for the old Henson Elementary in 2018, but the local aldermen at the time held it in a City Council committee. The building remains vacant. The school board in for the old Morgan Elementary in Chatham from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241. But the project never came to fruition.

Some schools have been sold and are off the district鈥檚 books, but remain vacant and undeveloped.

One notable example is the old Von Humboldt school, which still sits vacant after being for $3.1 million to the nonprofit IFF. The group planned to convert the old school in gentrifying Humboldt Park to a mixed-use building with affordable apartments and market-rate townhomes built on part of the parking lot. But IFF eventually sold the property to Newark, New Jersey-based RBH Group, which promised to convert it to a 鈥淭eachers Village鈥� with subsidized housing for teachers, similar to projects it鈥檚 done in Atlanta, Newark, New Jersey, and Hartford, Connecticut.

Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st Ward, put , but it eventually in 2020. The city in 2022 and last fall, the Chicago Housing Authority . Today, sits waiting for activity.

Local elected officials influence vacant school sales

What to do with school real estate is another area of .

By state law, the City of Chicago or the Public Building Commission hold the title 鈥渋n trust for the use of schools.鈥� The sale of old schools must be approved by the City Council in order for the deed to be transferred to a new owner. It also must be approved by two-thirds of the Chicago Board of Education, which now means 14 members must vote yes.

In the bid materials, interested buyers are encouraged to contact the local aldermen and local school board representatives for the properties they鈥檙e interested in purchasing.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who represents the 20th Ward on the south side, plans to hold meetings later this month to get feedback on repurposing the schools in her ward. Taylor is the City Council鈥檚 chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development and also participated in a roughly a decade ago.

School board member Che 鈥淩hymefest鈥� Smith, who was elected to represent District 10 on the south side, said he hasn鈥檛 heard from any prospective buyers yet. He doesn鈥檛 want to prescribe any uses for the vacant buildings in his district but just hopes that investors would tune in to what communities in these neighborhoods want and need. He also thinks any money the district makes from the sales should be poured into schools in those neighborhoods.

鈥淚 would like to see any revenue benefit local schools rather than disappearing into the district bureaucracy,鈥� he said.

When asked if she鈥檇 been contacted by anybody hoping to buy vacant schools, Therese Boyle, the elected school board representative for District 9 on the south side, said: 鈥淣ot a soul.鈥�

But she said what to do with these vacant properties is a critically important question for communities, especially given the district鈥檚 looming deficit.

鈥淲e need every penny for the operation of the schools that are open,鈥� Boyle said.

Boyle, a retired school psychologist, worked inside the old Wentworth school building now up for sale when it was closed in 2013. She remembered how difficult it was for students and staff to move to a new building and said it鈥檚 awful to have an old school sitting empty in a neighborhood.

Michilla Blaise, who was appointed to the school board by Mayor Brandon Johnson to represent District 5 on the west side, said she鈥檚 been talking with district, city, and county officials about what to do with the old vacant schools. She said it鈥檚 important to do something because right now, they鈥檙e just reminders of neighborhood disinvestment for the people who live around them.

Foreman, the community developer that owns the old Overton school, echoed that sentiment. For the 10 years he鈥檚 owned the old school, he鈥檚 allowed the community to use the gym to play basketball and workout. He had to stop that in the past year to prepare for construction and said there have been break-ins recently, but not from people looking to steal things.

鈥淭hey were young people who wanted to come and play in the gym,鈥� he said.

Even though financing Overton鈥檚 redevelopment has been a big challenge, Foreman questioned the argument often made by city officials that it鈥檚 too costly to repurpose these properties or make them available to the community while trying to sell them or even demolish them for use as a park.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 more expensive?鈥� he asked. 鈥淲hat we pay the police in overtime or opening up a gym for the kids to play basketball?鈥�

This was originally published by . Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.听Sign up for their newsletters at .

Correction: The headline on an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of school properties are that being put up for sale. Chicago plans to sell 20 properties.听

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