The city of Dixon is preparing to welcome new businesses to its major commercial development in the Interstate 88 corridor.

At Monday’s city council meeting, Dixon City Manager Danny Langloss announced plans are in the works to build infrastructure for several new businesses on the west side of South Galena Avenue.

One is a multi-tenant building housing four to five businesses at the Keul Road intersection and a McDonald’s is planned for the Walton Drive intersection.

Those new businesses are the latest to be announced in Dixon’s 3-year-old Gateway project – a 27-acre commercial development site along South Galena Avenue across from Walmart, between Keul and Bloody Gulch roads.

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Work is underway to get ready for construction in September or October at the multi-tenant building, but the timeline for McDonald’s is uncertain, Langloss said.

For the multi-tenant building, Dixon’s plan commission will meet Aug. 28 to review developer X-Site Real Estate’s request for a change in the plot lines to accommodate the new construction. It will then go to the council for final approval, at which point construction can start, Langloss said.

As for McDonald’s, the company is under contract to purchase the lot and is awaiting final approval from the council for a special-use designation that would allow it to operate a drive-thru under the property’s current General Business zoning, according to the special-use petition.

“We continue to move forward in the Gateway and are very grateful for the partnership we have with” Lee County Industrial Development Association, X-Site Real Estate and Walsh Partners, Langloss said.

So far, the Gateway project has a Chipotle restaurant, a Casey’s gas station, Water Castle Car Wash, a child care center operated by the Dixon Family YMCA, T-Mobile, a nail salon, a cannabis dispensary and a hotel - with a Fairfield Inn by Marriott on the way. A majority of those opened in 2024.

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For city officials, the development has gone “beyond our expectations” with so many businesses opening in such a short period of time, Langloss said. Pretty soon, there will be “just a few lots left” to be developed, he said.

The city expects the entire Gateway project to create more than 600 jobs and $1 million a year in new sales tax revenue once it’s completed.

Gateway sits within the Fargo Creek TIF district. A TIF is an economic development tool that allows municipalities to set aside property tax revenue created by any new property value in the district’s boundaries and use it to fund economic development agreements, infrastructure improvements and other initiatives.

That district is “how we’re able to have this development pay for itself,” Langloss said. Developments in the Gateway project don’t compete with other city projects.