The Six Corners Association is closing. The district's $276,000 business tax and a City study of Irving Park Road carry on

The Six Corners Association, a nonprofit that has promoted the shopping district where Irving Park Road, Milwaukee Avenue and Cicero Avenue meet, will dissolve at the end of the year, Block Club Chicago reported Friday. Its managing director told Block Club that other groups now do much of the same work, and that without tax funding it had become hard to continue.

Why it matters: Six Corners has its own property tax for business district services, called a special service area (SSA). It pays for things like sidewalk cleaning, holiday decorations and events. The association's closing doesn't end that tax or those services, because the association hasn't run the SSA since 2020.

How the Six Corners SSA changed hands

Block Club traced the history. The association started in 2002 and oversaw the district's SSA until 2020. That year, the Council's Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development picked the Six Corners Chamber of Commerce instead, a choice Block Club called controversial. City officials pulled the Chamber's funding in 2022 after allegations of mismanagement, and the Portage Park Chamber of Commerce was chosen in 2023.

The Council's records show each step. In December 2022, the Council approved an interim agreement with the Belmont-Central Chamber of Commerce to keep services going. In June 2023, it approved a partial-year budget with the Portage Park Chamber.

What our records add: next year's budget is already set

On Oct. 14 the Council passed O2026-0028909, the 2027 budget and management agreement for SSA No. 28-2014 (Six Corners), 49 to 0. The ordinance's exhibit shows:

• Provider: the Portage Park Chamber of Commerce.
• Tax: a requested levy of $276,000, under a tax rate cap of 0.75%.
• Total budget: $463,930, including $103,000 carried over and $84,930 in rebates from a tax increment financing (TIF) district.
• Biggest items: $175,000 for public way upkeep and appearance, $105,000 for customer attraction such as events and marketing, $96,000 for business development and $60,000 for staff.

The district was created in December 2005 and its founding ordinance was amended in December 2014, the exhibit says. SSA budgets come to the Council each fall as ordinances from the Mayor, and the Council votes on them like any other ordinance.

The Irving Park Road study

The Six Corners news comes as the City's Department of Planning and Development asks for feedback on a 6.2-mile stretch of Irving Park Road, from California Avenue to Overhill Avenue. It held an open house Wednesday at Independence Park, Block Club reported.

• Focus areas include Pulaski Road near the Blue Line and Metra stations, the area around Portage Park, and the stretch near Wilbur Wright College.
• Safety: the department counted 3,633 crashes along the corridor from 2020 to 2024. Ideas include curb extensions, raised crossings, pedestrian refuge islands and bus bump-outs.
• Vacancies: a department planner said much of the feedback is about pedestrian safety and storefronts that stay empty. A Portage Park Chamber representative said the top issue is property owners who don't seek tenants or keep up their buildings.

Irving Park Road is a state highway, so changes to the street itself would also involve the Illinois Department of Transportation. By our check of ward maps, the study area runs through or along the 30th, 33rd, 35th, 38th, 39th and 45th wards. Six Corners itself is in the 45th Ward of Ald. James Gardiner.

What's next

• Fall 2026: the planning department keeps taking comments through its project page on chicago.gov.
• Around year's end: a draft report is posted.
• Early 2027: the Chicago Plan Commission is asked to adopt it. Once adopted, the study guides zoning decisions and grant applications along the corridor.
• Dec. 4: the Six Corners Association's last event, a women in business luncheon, according to Block Club.