Longtime renters in a four-unit Logan Square walk-up say they are in a sprint to buy the place they call home after the owner quietly put it on the market. Organized as the Three Black Cats Tenants Association, the residents of 2648 N. Francisco Ave. say the building was listed this month and that a new tenant-rights law gives them only a tight window to pull together a purchase bid. On March 29, they took their fight to the sidewalk, picketing outside the property to pressure the seller to work with a preservation-minded buyer or sell directly to the tenants.
As reported by the city’s Northwest Side Housing Preservation pilot, the program stretches tenant protections across parts of Logan Square and neighboring communities and has already slowed several larger building sales. The initiative layers on notice rules and purchase timelines meant to give occupied properties a better chance to stay in the hands of current residents or end up with buyers who commit to keeping units affordable.
Details on the Logan Square listing
According to Block Club Chicago, the Corcoran Urban Real Estate listing for 2648 N. Francisco Ave. pegs the asking price at $1.35 million. Public records cited in that reporting put the building’s 2025 assessed value at about $950,000, with a 2024 tax bill of roughly $19,150. Block Club also notes that under the pilot, tenants get a 90-day right of first refusal once a listing goes live and roughly four months to line up financing and close under the tenant-opportunity-to-purchase rules.
Price confusion and what tenants say
Coverage of the sale has not agreed on the numbers. CBS Chicago put the price at $3.5 million, while MLS and brokerage listings, including UrbanRealEstate, show a $1.35 million ask and taxes near $19,151. Tenants who joined the picket told CBS the process feels “exhausting and complicated,” and resident Tim Grandon said it seemed “unachievable for working people to purchase their homes.”
The uphill climb and what's next
Block Club reports the building’s owner as Francisco Miranda and notes that tenants urged the retiring landlord to sell either to them or to a buyer who would commit to keeping the apartments affordable. The listing agent told Block Club he believes Miranda might be open to a deal with the tenants’ union, but the city’s Department of Housing told reporters that three other tenant groups have already tried to use the pilot’s right of first refusal and none has made it to a completed sale, though one deal is still in progress.
Ald. Anthony Quezada has publicly lined up behind the Three Black Cats effort. Organizer Brenna Townley told Block Club that in her decade in the building, Miranda never raised rents, a detail tenants say bolsters their push to keep 2648 N. Francisco Ave. affordable and under resident control rather than leaving it to the whims of the next investor.
