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Oswego village president defends financial packages for new businesses, says it’s ‘strengthening our downtown’ · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego Village president defends financial packages for new businesses, says
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  Speaker 1: it's strengthening our downtown. Written by Eric Shelkoff, This article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlett. Oswego Village President Ryan Kaufman wants to ensure
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  Speaker 1: taxpayers the village is giving financial incentives to several new
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  Speaker 1: and proposed businesses to boost downtown development. When people hear
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  Speaker 1: the word incentives, they sometimes picture the village simply handing
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  Speaker 1: a bag of taxpayer money over, and that is not
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  Speaker 1: at all what is happening, Kaufman said in a recent
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  Speaker 1: Facebook post. Our goal is simple, bring businesses and amenities
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  Speaker 1: that residents have been asking for, strengthen our downtown, create jobs,
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  Speaker 1: and grow our local economy, he said in the post.
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  Speaker 1: The village offers an Economic Development Incentive Award for new
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  Speaker 1: or existing businesses in Oswego's downtown Tax Increment Financing District
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  Speaker 1: to help cover eligible property and building improvements. It also
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  Speaker 1: offers loans to business located anywhere in the village's corporate limits.
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  Speaker 1: The program has been around since nineteen eighty five. Oswego
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  Speaker 1: Village trustees recently approved giving breakfast and lunch restaurant Holy
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  Speaker 1: Granoli a one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars revolving
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  Speaker 1: loan and forty thousand dollars Economic Development Incentive award. The
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  Speaker 1: restaurant will be Holy Granoli's second location. It also has
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  Speaker 1: a location on Boughton Road in bowling Brook. The funds
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  Speaker 1: will be used to help the restaurant in making the
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  Speaker 1: substantial building renovations that are needed. The restaurant could open
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  Speaker 1: in the long vacant dairy barn space in downtown Oswego
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  Speaker 1: in the next couple of months. Kaufman said residents have
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  Speaker 1: asked for more mom and pop type restaurants rather than
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  Speaker 1: national chain restaurants. We've heard you loud and clear, and
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  Speaker 1: we're working hard every day to deliver on that, he said.
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  Speaker 1: Kaufman said the village's revolving loan program continues to grow
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  Speaker 1: because businesses repay their loans with interest, which allows those
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  Speaker 1: dollars to be loaned out again and again to help
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  Speaker 1: the next business. The village also recently approved a two
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  Speaker 1: hundred thirty two thousand dollars revolving loan and a forty
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars economic incentive award for Billy Bricks Pizza and
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  Speaker 1: Moojo's Ice Cream Shop for improvements needed for the space
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  Speaker 1: at five South Madison Street, which previously housed Keith's Car Care.
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  Speaker 1: The Oswego location will be the chain's first Southwest location.
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  Speaker 1: Billy Bricks Pizza has restaurants in several communities including Naperville, Wheaton, Lombard,
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  Speaker 1: Oak Park, and Highwood. Last year, the village board approved
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  Speaker 1: seventy two hundred and eight dollars in financial assistance for
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  Speaker 1: Bay fifty four Cocktail Lounge, which is opening in the
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  Speaker 1: space at fifty seven Main Street in downtown Oswego that
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  Speaker 1: previously housed the Bike Rack as we Go. I am
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  Speaker 1: so excited to see another unique gathering place opening in
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  Speaker 1: our downtown, Kaufman said. He said one of his top
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  Speaker 1: priorities has been making downtown as WeGo a destination. Kaufman
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  Speaker 1: said the village is accomplishing that goal with the number
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  Speaker 1: of new businesses that plan to open in the downtown.
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  Speaker 1: I could not be more proud of the momentum that
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  Speaker 1: we are creating, Kaufman said. These are investments that are
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  Speaker 1: going to benefit our community, not just that today, but
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  Speaker 1: for many years to come. Thriving downtowns do not just
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  Speaker 1: happen by accident. They happen because communities choose to believe,
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  Speaker 1: They choose to invest in the future and to create
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  Speaker 1: places where people want to gather, celebrate, and build memories
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  Speaker 1: together