Scooter’s Coffee moving ahead with plans to build restaurant in Oswego

Scooter’s Coffee is set to build a restaurant near the intersection of Route 71 and Washington Street in Oswego, partly on land the village recently acquired from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The Oswego Village Board on June 27 approved selling the 0.241-acre parcel to Field to Beans LLC for $35,000, the same amount the village paid IDOT for the property. The property is located just east of the intersection of Route 71 and Washington Street.

Trustees approved acquiring the property at their June 13 board meeting.

“The village has since made the required payment of $35,000 to IDOT and is in the process of acquiring the deed to the property,” Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said in a memo. “The village acquired the property for the purpose of selling it to a developer.”

Field to Beans LLC currently has the property at 4490 Route 71 under contract, which is just east of the subject property. The developer intends to construct a Scooter’s coffee drive-through restaurant at the intersection, Di Santo said.

Previously, the developer proposed to construct the restaurant solely at 4490 Route 71. However, the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission did not support that plan, in part because of a lack of access onto Washington Street.

“Over the past several months, the village worked to acquire the corner IDOT parcel, which if combined with 4490 Route 71, would allow the development to have access on both Route 71 and Washington Street, greatly improving access and overall traffic flow on the site,” Di Santo said in the memo.

The Planning and Zoning Commission is set to review the new plans at its July 6 meeting. The proposed plan calls for a 664-square-foot kiosk on the northern part of the property, Oswego Development Services Director Rod Zenner said.

“Access will be provided by a right-in/right out access point along Route 71 and a right-in/right-out access along Plainfield Road,” he said in a memo. “Route 71 and Plainfield Road have barrier medians, so a full access would not be allowed.”

Scooter’s Coffee opened restaurants in Plano and Sandwich last year. A Scooter’s Coffee restaurant is expected to open soon at the southeast intersection of routes 47 and 126 in Yorkville.