Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Springfield ice cream fans have something to look forward to.

“We can expect the Baskin-Robbins on MacArthur to reopen, and this is good news once you hear the backstory of all the things which almost prevented that,” Springfield Business Journal publisher Michelle Ownbey told the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “Initially, the building owner did not plan to rebuild.”

A minivan plowed into the building June 17, 2025.

Ownbey says franchisee Mindi Gutmann was about to sign a lease somewhere else and then learned the property changed hands again, allowing her to rebuild in the old space.

Ownbey reports Gutmann will have an entire building to herself. The destroyed building was also home to a tax service, which has found a new location.

An unintended consequence of the crash: more business at Gutmann’s Chatham Road location.

“She said, really, a lot of people didn’t even seem to realize there was another location in Springfield, so if one good thing has come out of it, it has perhaps raised the awareness that we have a second location,” said Ownbey. “But she said despite seeing an uptick in business over there it is not anywhere close to what they were doing with two stores.”