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8639 S Phillips Ave 2

South Chicago, Chicago IL 60617 21313250110000 2 units · 1921

This building has more problems than most buildings in this neighborhood. A handful of unresolved issues. Worth a careful walk-through and pointed questions.

Building Violations (7y) vs. neighborhood
Compared to a typical building in South Chicago
At or below average
avg 3.0
0
FewerMore

This building has 0 building violations (7y), at or below the South Chicago average of 3.0.

Building characteristics
Units2
Year built1921
Stories
Building area2,573 sq ft
Property class211
PIN (Cook County parcel)21313250110000
Ownership

Registered owner per Cook County Assessor records.

Owner name
James Ford Iii
Mailing address
8639 S Phillips Ave

Landlord portfolio

Other Chicago properties this owner holds, with risk grades for each.

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Augrented Insights
AI summary

The two-unit residential building at 8639 S Phillips Avenue 2, located in Chicago's South Chicago neighborhood, was constructed in 1921 and is currently owned by James Ford III. The property has experienced several maintenance and environmental concerns in recent years, with a total of 22 service requests filed through the 311 system over the past seven years. Most notably, in 2026, there was a cluster of related issues including a rodent complaint, a report of a vacant/abandoned building, and a tree debris clean-up request, all of which were successfully resolved. More recently, there remains an open request from June 2025 for a water lead test kit, which is particularly significant given the potential health implications associated with lead exposure. The building has received minimal official attention in terms of permitted work, with only one building permit recorded in the past seven years, though this alone does not necessarily indicate any deficiencies; it simply reflects the limited nature of permitted improvements.

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Risk rating

How 8639 S Phillips Ave 2's risk score is calculated

We trained a model on 7 years of Chicago code enforcement data — building violations, 311 complaint history, environmental enforcement, and owner track records. It estimates the probability that the City of Chicago will find a code violation at this address in the next 12 months. Lower % = safer.

What the score means for you

Grade A–B — Low risk

City inspectors rarely find violations here. Strong maintenance history and a clean complaint record.

Grade C — Moderate risk

Some past violations or complaints on record. Worth asking the landlord about any open issues before signing.

Grade D–F — High risk

Elevated violation and complaint history. City inspectors have found issues here before and are statistically likely to again.

Neighborhood percentile
23rdpercentile

Out of 2603 buildings in this neighborhood, 2004 are predicted to be safer.

RiskiestSafest
Predicted 12-month outcome
41%
No code
violation
59%
Code violation
likely
Model explanation

What's driving this score

The data points that most influenced this building's risk rating — ranked by the weight the model placed on each one.

Location

Precise location is a proxy for area-level risk — some Chicago zip codes have systematically higher code-enforcement activity.

311 calls (past 7 years)

311 service requests tied to this address over 7 years.

Year built

The year a building was constructed is a proxy for its maintenance challenges.

12-Month severity forecast
No violation 29.3%
Moderate concern 39.8%
Severe concern 30.9%
Estimated probability of a code violation in the next 12 months at each severity level.
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The story over time

8639 S Phillips Ave 2 event timeline

Building violations, environmental complaints and enforcement, permits, scofflaw listings, and 311 calls — most recent records in order.

2026
311 Request May 11
Blue Recycling Cart
Alderman
311 RequestJan 07
Rodent Baiting/Rat Complaint

See all 5 events

Full history back to 2025 — violations, complaints, permits, and 311 calls.

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Every record we have

Full data for 8639 S Phillips Ave 2 apartments

Chicago public datasets for this parcel — building violations, permits, 311 calls, environmental complaints and enforcement, scofflaw listings, and vacant building registrations.

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Cancel anytime · Data sourced from the City of Chicago Department of Buildings, Chicago 311, Cook County Assessor & the Chicago Data Portal

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