BREAKING: Oswego's Dairy Hut will become the Dairy Barn

UPDATED AT 3:37 P.M. TUESDAY SEPT. 17

Developers announced plans for the construction of a new Dairy Hut on Oswego's Main Street Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 17.

A mainstay of downtown Oswego since 1962, Dairy Hut will be torn down and rebuilt as the Dairy Barn.

Developers plan to open the new business in spring 2021 and operate year-round.

Still in the beginning stages of development, the property was purchased by Imperial Investments LLC., of Yorkville, in August for $290,000.

"I've lived in Oswego for 20 years, I've been coming to Dairy Hut, this year was 40 years for me," Imperial Investments Director of Development Mike Mann said.

"It might not keep the original structure, but it's going to keep the original intent; which was to provide a place for families to come down and enjoy ice cream or a meal after a baseball game, or for kids to ride their bikes here."

Architectural renderings of the Oswego Dairy Barn, to be built at 121 Main Street, were presented to the Ledger.

Featuring a black roof, covered patio, and stone exterior, Mann has projected the interior and exterior sections of the Dairy Barn to sit about 165 guests combined.

He also expressed a desire to continue the Dairy Hut tradition o hiring high school and college students to staff the business.

The building will be about 5,000 square feet inside, with about 1,200 square feet provided from exterior seating. The Dairy Barn will feature an exterior service window located behind sliding barn doors, and talks have included the possibility of an interior game space, and birthday room on a second floor, according to Mann.

While the menu has not been finalized, Mann confirmed that items found on the Dairy Hut menu will return including shakes, ice cream, floats, hot dogs, chili dogs, fries, and burgers.

Imperial has also purchased the neighboring lot at 113 South Main Street, the former location of Oswego's Village Hall, and has begun the process of constructing a three-story, mixed-use development on the lot.

Mann expressed a desire to commission a mural on the exterior wall of 113 S. Main Street that would face the Dairy Barn; celebrating Oswego and paying tribute to the Dairy Hut.

"What we want to do, at the end of the day, with any property we own is make it better for the people here while still trying to maintain some of the downtown feel," Mann said. "I hope people will really like it...I want to keep the feel, and I want to keep what was offered here, so that the same people can come down here and have the same experience, just in a different place."

Plans are expected to be presented to the Board of Trustees in the next two months. Demolition will not take place, Mann said, until spring 2020, to allow for work to finish at 113 S. Main Street, and for the village to finish planned infrastructure improvements in the area.