The village of East Dundee’s purchase of the building that’s currently home to Van’s Frozen Custard & Burgers will close by month’s end, prompting the shop’s move to new digs in West Dundee later this summer, officials said.

Located at 16 E. Main St., the $625,000 purchase was approved in May by the East Dundee Village Board. However, because work on Van’s new location at 818 W. Main St. is not yet finished, the board this week authorized them to continue their tenancy on a temporary basis.

Long term, the village plans to use site — once home to a gas station — for the future realignment of the Route 72/River Street intersection.

While construction plans are not currently in the works, the board opted to move ahead with the purchase to ensure the land is in hand when the project moves forward. As currently envisioned, the realignment would include an underpass for the Fox River Bike Trail.

Van’s moved into the East Dundee building in 2012 after having previously been located on Huntley Road in Carpentersville. Airto Ocasio purchased the business three years ago.

“East Dundee has been very gracious and flexible with us,” Ocasio said. “We’ve tentatively worked out an agreement with them where they are open to having us stay there until we make the transition.

“We’re extremely excited about the new location,” he said. “It will give us a lot of opportunities we didn’t have before.”

There were several factors involved in the selection of the new site, including parking and visibility, he said.

“We are very limited with the parking spaces,” Ocasio said. “The other thing is we wanted to have a drive-thru.”Van’s new location is a former KFC restaurant, which will give them the additional features they want while keeping the business local and not far from its current spot, he said.

“We do have a pretty solid following of customers in the area so we didn’t want to go too far,” Ocasio said.

He also hopes to take advantage of whatever growth results from the new development built on the site of the former Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee/Carpentersville, he said.

Other than saying the new Van’s will keep its retro feel and existing menue, Ocasio opted not to reveal other details because “we want it to be a surprise. We want people to come in and have a wow factor,” he said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.