Minoa businesses awarded money for exterior improvements

MINOA — A handful of Minoa businesses have been granted Main Street funding from Onondaga County, the county’s executive, Ryan McMahon, announced May 29.

The Wednesday morning press conference about the newest round of grants for Minoa took place on North Central Avenue in front of Scotty’s Automotive, one of the village’s funding recipients.

For a total investment of $591,684, the county has put in $443,762 for the listed projects, while the businesses that applied collectively put up a match of $147,921 for the Main Street endeavor.

The grant recipients were Parkway Pizza, which obtained $96,500 to cover new doors and windows along with roofing and siding work at its 332 Costello Parkway location; Scotty’s Automotive, which is getting $87,410 for improvements like five new bay doors and roofing; Coneheads Ice Cream at 110 Hulbert St. for new siding, windows, doors, soffit, a paver patio and the frieze under a roof edge also known as a fascia, all of that costing about $83,360; and the oldest continuously running business in the village, Charlie’s Tavern at 115 S. Main St., for triple-pane windows costing $6,609.

Trappers II Pizza & Pub, called one of the best venues in all of Onondaga County by McMahon, was given $68,334 for rolling counter doors, a dumpster enclosure, patio paver, fencing, windows, a ramp and bench installations.

Jen Wood, the owner of Trappers II, is also getting $102,984 for the new tavern with a patio enclosure and a fire pit she’ll own at 132 N. Main St. where the 19th Hole bar used to operate, and the mixed-use property on North Main Street she helped to open that contains Northbound Mind + Body Shop and upstairs apartments will have new lighting, doors, windows and patio pavers to complement a new awning, all of that amounting to $56,078.

Additionally, $27,359 will go to new windows and a door at Perry Real Estate Holdings at 112 Willard St., while Cutting Edge at 128 N. Main St.—a white house bought by Spill the Tea Cafe co-owner John Hodges that has apartments upstairs and two office spaces to rent out—will be resided and dressed up with new windows for a cost of $63,050.

During the press conference, Minoa Mayor Bill Brazill thanked McMahon and his county staff for being a pleasure to work with and for the “unbelievable” help. Brazill said that McMahon talked two years ago about his comprehensive plan for Onondaga County, a plan that the mayor said was refreshing to hear because it emphasized building the entire community “from the bottom up,” or, in other words, starting with villages and their smaller levels of government.

“For generations, small business has been the backbone of our community,” McMahon said. “When you look at where job creation comes from, it’s from small businesses.”

Adding that he “can’t stop smiling” after hearing the news of the grants, Brazill made sure to remind those gathered that day that the business owners put in an abundance of their own money for the projects, going on to encourage residents to give their thanks to them by supporting them as customers.

“Everyone is saying how it’s a new feeling here and it’s a new renaissance—a new birth,” Brazill said, “Call it what you want, but Minoa’s always been great, and we’re just continuing to rise.”

Mark Olson, who represents Minoa as the county legislator for the 10th District, said the grant money is important because it keeps the businesses going and leads to their growth while sprucing up their appearance in a way that betters the quality of life in Minoa and the overall town of Manlius, adding at the podium, “This really is something that is special.”

“It’s huge for the village and small businesses like ours to get some money to redo the facades,” said Adam Behr, one of the operators of Coneheads Ice Cream. “We’re just making the place a little nicer and whatnot for all the customers, and it’s great for the county to help us with that really because it helps us get it done and it makes the place nicer and the town nicer.”

Tom Scott, who presently owns Scotty’s, said he “deeply appreciates” the assistance, which is another boost on top of what the service center received amid the first round of Main Street funding to help with painting, the placement of a vinyl fence around the property, and pothole fixes in its parking lot. Now planning to retire, Tom said his son Lance is taking over the business.

“To hand this down to him all ready to go without having to worry about maintenance on it is fantastic,” Tom said.

Lance said that between the first and second rounds of funding from the county, the repairs would not be possible otherwise. He and his father called the support a “blessing” that “almost brings a tear to the eye.”

“It’s just out of this world,” Lance said. “This is just massive to have this done, and it makes people look in and feel better about bringing their car in. It’s definitely motivational to have something to show off that you’re proud of.”

Ginger Jurkiewicz, who runs Parkway Pizza, said the help means a lot because it was her sister Terri Butterfield’s eatery for about 25 years until her untimely passing in May 2021.

“She always wanted to be able to do more things to the shop and maybe expand eventually,” Jurkiewicz said. “I’m just happy to be able to have the opportunity to help fulfill my sister’s wishes, and I’m just really excited for what the place is gonna look like when we’re done.”

Since 2019, the county has invested $1.5 million in Minoa through the Main Street program across 21 separate projects, all the while leveraging another $461,000 from the businesses themselves, McMahon said. Altogether, $19 million in Main Street funding has been awarded county-wide to towns, villages and parts of the city of Syracuse with an additional $15 million committed by the private sector for almost $35 million invested in total.