B3-3 Community Shopping District A Chicago zoning district · Title 17
Shopping centers, large stores and retail storefronts, often along major streets. Allows a broader range of businesses than B1 and B2, with apartments permitted above the ground floor.
Example on a 50 × 100 ft lot. The dashed box is the maximum zoning envelope, the buildable footprint after setbacks, raised to the 65 ft height limit. The solid building is an illustrative example at FAR 3: covering the full footprint reaches only ~4 stories before the floor-area cap binds, so a taller building needs a smaller floor plate. A taller ground-floor commercial storefront sits below the upper residential floors.
Specifications
- Zoning Ordinance reference
- §17-3-0104
View in the Chicago Zoning Ordinance - Floor area ratio (FAR)
- 3
- Maximum building height
- Varies by lot frontage and whether the building has ground-floor commercial space. §17-3-0408.
- Lot area per unit (density)
- 400 sq ft of lot area per dwelling unit. 300 sq ft per efficiency unit; 200 sq ft per SRO unit.
- Minimum lot area
- —
- Rear yard open space
- —
- On-site open space
- —
- Parking requirements
- 1 space per dwelling unit. §17-10-0207.
Setbacks
- Front yard
- None required, unless the property borders an R-zoned lot — then at least 50% of that lot's front setback. §17-3-0404.
- Side yard
- None required, unless the property borders an R-zoned lot — then that lot's front setback applies.
- Rear yard
- At least 30 ft where the building contains dwelling units. If the rear borders the side of an R-zoned lot, match that lot's side setback; if it borders the R lot's rear, at least 16 ft.
Allowed Uses
Curated from the §17-3-0207 use table. P = permitted by-right; S = special-use approval required. Always confirm against the full ordinance text.
- General retail sales
- Limited AND general restaurants
- Offices, medical service, data centers
- Financial services; consumer repair; laundromat
- Auto supply; indoor light-vehicle sales; vehicle repair (no body work)
- Dwelling units & artist live/work above ground floor
- Building-material sales; veterinary; kennel
- Indoor & outdoor participant sports; medium venues (150–999)
- Drive-through facilities; taverns
- Hotel/motel; liquor store (package goods)
- Ground-floor / below-2nd-floor residential
- Body art, payday/title loan, pawn shop
- Large venues (PD); cremating; cabaret
In Chicago, B3-3 allows a floor area ratio of 3 and a height limit of Varies by lot frontage and whether the building has ground-floor commercial space. §17-3-0408.. The figures above are the B3-3 standards as the Chicago Zoning Ordinance states them, each citation linking to the section it comes from in our hosted copy of Title 17. What a specific lot allows also depends on its frontage, depth, corner or through geometry, and any overlay it sits in — run the B3-3 numbers for your lot to see those applied.
Reference figures are modeled from the Chicago Zoning Ordinance (Title 17) for general guidance and do not constitute zoning or legal advice. Lot-specific limits depend on frontage, depth, adjacencies and overlays — analyze a specific address for exact figures. Always confirm against the official ordinance.