One of Morton's most visible eyesores is gone.
The former Ruby Tuesday restaurant at 127 E. Ashland St., which closed without warning in 2016 after being open for 16 years and deteriorated as time took its toll on the vacant building, was demolished last month.
In its place will be a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill restaurant operated by the Peoria Ice Cream Company, which opened a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill in East Peoria in April.
The Morton Dairy Queen is expected to open in April 2025. It's in a busy location, surrounded by several nearby businesses, hotels and other restaurants.
"That area is a hub. People are always coming and going," said Morton Mayor Jeff Kaufman.
"There isn't a better spot for a restaurant in Morton," said Craig Loudermilk, the village's public works director. "Besides having high traffic counts in the area, Ashland Street is the first right turn for people coming off (Interstate 74)."
Loudermilk said the former Ruby Tuesday property had become a burden for taxpayers.
"We had to mow it for several years," he said. "The previous owners just let it go."
Peoria Ice Cream Company is making a $3.3 million investment in the Morton Dairy Queen, according to company CEO and President Mike Kepple. That's $700,000 more than the company spent at its East Peoria location.
The 14-acre Morton Dairy Queen site will feature a 2,250-square-foot restaurant, a patio with a pergola and perhaps a waterfall, a drive-thru, and a parking lot with bus and truck parking and an ATM machine.
The former Ruby Tuesday location wasn't the first place in Morton the Peoria Ice Cream Company considered for the Dairy Queen.
A lot next to the Taco Bell restaurant at 100 W. Ashland St., was scouted. Soil tests there revealed the land wasn't firm enough to support the Dairy Queen building, so another Morton location was sought.
Kepple, a Dunlap resident and Bradley University graduate, tracked down the owners of the former Ruby Tuesday and at the end of a complicated process, purchased the site.
"Where the Morton Dairy Queen is being built is a great location. It by no means was a second choice or fallback site," said Ryan Prevo, Peoria Ice Cream Company's chief financial officer.
Kepple and Prevo praised Kaufman and Loudermilk for their help during the lengthy process of purchasing the former Ruby Tuesday site, demolition and now construction.
"Morton aims to be business-friendly," Kaufman said.
Morton had a Dairy Queen at 214 S. Main St., owned by the Carius family, for 72 years before it closed last year. The family cited the parent company's "system requirement changes" as the reason for the closure.
The popular downtown business reopened this year as Carius Creamery.
The Morton location will be the seventh Dairy Queen and fifth Grill & Chill operated by the Peoria Ice Cream Company. There are three Grill & Chill spots in Peoria in addition to the recently-opened one in East Peoria.
Grill & Chill locations offer food in addition to Dairy Queen's staple frozen desserts.
Dairy Queen locations in Bartonville and Creve Coeur owned by the Peoria Ice Cream Company are Dairy Queen Treat stores.
Morton resident Scott Buffington is Peoria Ice Cream Company's operations manager.
