My first Artists Salon of 2024 went great, more to come in December. 
I did get a lot of questions about home office/work in Chicago. I am tackling that topic in this blog post but only for the City of Chicago. Here is what the City/Zoning code says:
- Business size
Home occupations can’t take up more than 300 square feet or 25% of the total floor area of the dwelling unit, whichever is larger.
- Employees
Home occupations can’t have more than one non-resident employee working in the dwelling unit.
- Disallowed activities
Home occupations can’t include certain activities, such as child care institutions, day care centers, or administrative, clerical, or research work for an entity with a different principal place of business.
- Registration
Home occupations must be registered with the appropriate government agencies, such as the US Internal Revenue Service, Illinois Secretary of State, and Illinois Department of Revenue.
There is a separate designation for Artist Live Work Space:
According to Chicago’s zoning ordinance, artist live/work spaces are permitted in B and C zoning districts:
- Artist live/work space above the ground floor: Permitted by right
- Artist live/work space on the ground floor: Special use approval required
Here are some other requirements for business live/work units in Chicago:
- The residential and work portions of the unit must be separated by architectural elements, such as doors, partitions, or counters
- The unit must be between 800 and 3,000 gross square feet
- The work portion must be at least one-third of the total floor area, or 400 square feet, whichever is greater
- The residential portion must be at least half of the total floor area
- The unit must be limited to the ground floor
- The work portion cannot be used for storage or operations in the residential portion
- The unit must have separate access from the building exterior or from a common area
- The residential portion cannot have a separate street address from the work space
- The unit must comply with minimum lot area standards for dwelling units
- Business live/work units are not allowed in strip centers
Chicago also has a B2-2 zoning designation that allows for more mixed-use development options. This ordinance allows commercial properties to be used as live-work spaces without the need for a zoning change.
Here are some helpful links too:
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bacp/supp_info/homebasedbusiness.html
https://secondcityzoning.org/resources/Chicago-Zoning-Ordinance.pdf
https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/dcd/supp_info/industrial/B-and-C-use-matrix.pdf
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