East vs. west: Projects abound on both sides of Oswego but they are more massive on the east side. Experts explain why the east side has seen more growth over the decades
By Stefan Yablonski
The Port City is expanding. Garnering most of the attention is the city’s eastern edge.
Popeye’s, Texas Roadhouse and a new Splash Car Wash have all opened along 104 East.
And a Hobby Lobby is about to open at the former JC Penney location.
Burritt’s Boats is also scheduled to open in the coming months.
Development on the east side can be traced backed to the 1960s when W.T. Grant built a store; it was later occupied by J.C. Penney and is now being resurrected as a Hobby Lobby.
The Oswego Plaza came into being around that time, also. The area, then, was predominantly farmland. Most of Oswego’s west side land was already occupied.
The city’s current increase in business activity coincides with new stores opening and existing ones expanding, according to Mayor Rob Corradino.
“This has resulted in an increase in the city’s sales tax revenue, which is certainly welcomed,” said Corradino.
It is an accurate indicator that “Oswego is a great place to do business,” Corradino added.
Many of these new openings are occurring on the eastern end of the city’s business corridor due to the fact that land and locations are available, he said.
“There are even more new businesses planned in the immediate future for our community, which bodes well for our local job market,” Corradino said.
The city’s planning committee has had several items on the agenda that were for new businesses, he said, adding, “there is no reason that will slow down in 2024.”
“The progress in the city looks to continue beyond 2024 with the construction and eventual opening of the Micron facility just a 35-minute ride south of our community,” the mayor said.
Westside projects
“I’d say there is probably an equal amount of projects on the west side — they are typically small business expansions. So it’s not the same size projects you’re seeing on the east side where you have the larger more visible projects,” said Austin Wheelock, executive director of Operation Oswego County.
One reason, he agreed, is the availability of space to build.
“What I’d say is that on the west side you have some projects that are going to be 2024 projects. The big one is the Market House Oswego brewery and apartments going into Old City Hall,” he said. “That’s a major project that is happening. That should be getting done here in 2024.”
Another project happening over on the west side is the Whacko Gringo relocation to the building right behind its current space on Bridge Street.
“That’s a project we are involved in helping to finance,” Wheelock said. “And you have the Vona’s renovations project. You also have the In Vogue expansion. They are moving into the former Mother Earth Baby space right next door. They will have both those buildings right next door to each other and expand their services.”
While they aren’t the same kinds of commercial expansions, there are commercial expansions on the west side as well, he said.
Salon addition planned
“My first salon was on the east side and an opportunity presented itself to purchase the blue Victorian house that the salon is in now, 62 W. Bridge St.,” said Tonia Reed, owner of In Vogue. “It’s the same thing with the green house that is going to be our future spa.”
The opportunity presented itself which allowed her to expand into the house next door. “Both locations are close to city center, close to our downtown restaurants and shops, hospital, college,” she said. “Plus being on the Main Street has a lot of advantages as well. The west side Bridge Street appearance in general is much more pleasing to the eye, in my opinion.”
Whacko Gringo opens
“We opened up the food trailer almost a year ago, March 17 of 2023 out front of our place now. We were open through Feb. 2 [2024]. We closed the trailer down on Feb. 2 and started renovating this site. March 12 was our first official day open,” said Daniel Mckelvey, founder and creator of Whacko Gringo at 107 W. Bridge St.
The Hannibal native moved away and worked in casinos for 12 years. He has created two other successful food concepts.
“This is my third. When I moved back a year and a half ago, I was looking to buy a restaurant. I was looking at things for sale; some were on the east side — but I knew I wanted to be on the west side,” he said. “I live over here on the west side and the west side demographics just seem better. That is why I chose this place. I always loved this property. I can’t believe it was vacant for 15 or 20 years. It was an easy decision. I have parking here — a lot of places in the city you don’t have parking. This property just has it all.”
New location — on the east side
“You may have noticed that we are no longer at our cute little downtown shop at 43 W. Bridge St. That’s because we are busy preparing a new location,” Lindsay Gaffney, co-owner of Organic Earthling posted on her Facebook page a few months ago. “We are now located at Widewaters Commons 437 State Route 104 East.”
“We moved to the east side mainly because parking was a big issue. We had two customers have their cars swiped in the three plus years we were there. The elderly customers were complaining to us, they were nervous about getting out of the car on [West] Bridge Street. So parking, along with a rent increase, sent us to look for other options in Oswego,” said James Gaffney, co-owner.
Now the commercial space that they are in has some challenges as well, he added.
“More insurance, the cost of build-out [plumbing] was expensive. But the management at Widewaters Commons has been wonderful to us and very accommodating,” he said. “We will miss our downtown neighbors — but overall, we will have better parking and we look forward to seeing old friends and welcoming new friends to our new Widewaters Commons location.”
