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Dundee Dairy Queen owners urge board to preserve standalone store as Route 72 concepts move forward
Summary
Owners of the Dundee Dairy Queen told the Village of East Dundee that early Route 72 revitalization concepts would harm their free‑standing, 70‑year‑old business and urged the board to ensure any relocation would improve the restaurant’s operations before proceeding.
Michael Potieris, owner of the Dundee Dairy Queen, and Carrie Miller, co‑owner and general counsel, told the Village of East Dundee board during public comment that they oppose the current Route 72 downtown concepts because the plans would relocate the restaurant into a strip center and reduce its visibility and revenue. “My business, my livelihood is being challenged,” Potieris said, noting the store has operated in Dundee since 1953 and employs more than 30 young people each summer. He added that Dairy Queen corporate has been consulted and that any change should leave the store “leaps and bounds better than it was before.”
Miller said the restaurant’s prominence as a standalone corner building is part of why it has thrived for generations. “A strip mall would diminish the very qualities that make the Dundee Dairy Queen successful and beloved,” she said, and asked the board not to support the current plan in its present form. Both speakers said they were shown relocation drawings months ago without prior business input and asked the village to slow planning until property owners’ needs are incorporated.
Board members and staff responded that the Route 72 corridor materials presented that evening were conceptual and intended to start a broader community conversation. Jackie Mish, the village’s TIF consultant, and consultants from Hitchcock Design Group described the materials as early design ideas that would require further traffic and safety studies and coordination with the Illinois Department of Transportation. A village official said the corridor study is a long‑range effort that could take years and is not an immediate construction plan. The board noted the Dairy Queen concerns and several trustees said they want to ensure redevelopment concepts can accommodate a free‑standing restaurant if possible.
The presentation on the corridor study also covered pedestrian and bicycle safety ideas, potential medians, sidewalk setbacks, and options for outdoor dining along Route 72, but presenters emphasized that specific property changes would be studied only if and when redevelopment proposals are advanced and that nothing will happen overnight.
The board did not take formal action on the corridor concepts that night; it approved related procedural steps for the TIF and planning processes in separate motions.
