"There's no bad time to eat ice cream," Joe Salvagni told syracuse.com this month. He was explaining why Joey's Ice Cream on Milton Avenue isn't closing for the winter. When he renovated 1623 Milton Ave., he had an opening cut through the brick between the ice cream parlor and the space next door. Customers can now walk straight from one shop into the other, and as of early October the other one is a coffee shop that opens at 6 a.m.
That doorway shows what's happening on Solvay's main street. The street is being rebuilt where it burned, and the first building to come back was designed for the cold months as much as for summer evenings.
The building at 1623 sat empty for years after its 2017 fire
Anyone who has driven Milton Avenue for a while knows the address. WSYR's Your Stories team said viewers had asked for years what would happen to the former Pooch's Leisure Room. The bar closed in 2017 after a fire badly damaged the building.
The building has been restored. In late June 2026, Salvagni opened the first floor as Scoops Ice Cream Shoppe, and he renamed it Joey's Ice Cream shortly afterward. He grew up in Solvay and is a former Onondaga County sheriff's deputy. He told syracuse.com in June that he has "35 relatives within three miles of my home." He'd also done this before. The Scoops he opened in Cicero in 2018 became one of Central New York's busiest ice cream stops, and it now runs under new owners as Cloud 9 Creamery & Cafe.
He planned the year-round piece from day one. In June, syracuse.com described his goal as a gathering place that stays busy all year, "ice cream in the summer, coffee when the weather turns cold." The village also opened the municipal parking lot across the street for larger events. The summer went to plan, with a classic Jeep show and live music on August 14 and a classic car show on September 5. October is when the cold-weather half of the plan starts.
Pressed adds the morning
Pressed Caffè and Roastery opened at 1625 Milton Ave. the weekend before syracuse.com ran its First Look on October 13, after a soft opening for friends and family. It's open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Salvagni runs it with his brother-in-law, Dan Hamon, who has lived in Solvay for almost 20 years. Hamon worked at Starbucks, Cafe 407 and Cafe Kubal, plus the former Rice Box. Salvagni drinks hot chocolate, so Hamon is the espresso person.
Several menu items are built around the village:
- The Process. A latte named for the Solvay Process, which helped shape the village. It has brown sugar, orange bitters and cinnamon, and some customers have told Hamon it tastes like a coffee Old Fashioned.
- Tiramisu latte, $6.50. Espresso with tiramisu syrup, milk and mascarpone cream, finished with cocoa and served with a ladyfinger.
- Caprese-style avocado toast, $7.50, along with bagels and breakfast sandwiches.
- The Pressed, $12. Italian meats, provolone, lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing on a locally made bagel bun. Hamon says the bun is somewhere between a bagel and pizza dough.
Pressed roasts its own coffee and hopes to sell it retail eventually. Salt City Coffee supplies additional coffee and helped the shop get started. The bakery case comes from seven cottage bakers in the Solvay and Syracuse areas.
The room is about 3,600 square feet. It has soft seating, tables with outlets and Wi-Fi for laptops, and a big shared table where Hamon says he watched strangers sit down and end up talking during the first few days. Wood and exposed piping nod to the village's industrial past. The walls carry photos from the Solvay historical society showing earlier versions of the neighborhood, along with local artwork painted in coffee. Some customers have started trading memories of what used to stand across the street.
The doorway puts ice cream on the coffee menu
On a 40-degree morning, the cut through the brick wall is what makes the ice cream side useful. Pressed serves an affogato, which is espresso poured over gelato, and a cold brew float. You can also build your own combination from Joey's hard ice cream.
The ice cream counter has grown since June. It opened with 44 Perry's flavors, and the October story puts the count at 45. There are also seven soft-serve flavors and a black raspberry frozen yogurt made by Salvagni's father, which WSYR says quickly became a favorite. For a Solvay sports night, the $13 Bearcat sundae comes with three hard ice cream flavors, unlimited toppings and blue-and-orange sprinkles.
The two shops keep different hours. Pressed closes at 3 p.m. Joey's posted later summer hours when it opened, so if you're planning an after-dinner stop this fall, check its current hours before you go.
The other burned-out site on Milton Avenue is in the 2200 block
Pooch's wasn't the only fire to leave a gap on Milton Avenue. A fire in 2003 destroyed several buildings at the southeast corner of Milton and Cogswell avenues, in the 2200 block, several blocks from Pressed. According to syracuse.com's March report, village and town officials said the five parcels once held a bakery, two bars and a barbershop. The lot has been empty ever since.
Developer Joe Zavaglia wants to fill it with Milton Corner. That's a proposed four-story, 40,200-square-foot building with six storefronts on the ground floor and 33 one- and two-bedroom apartments above. The plan has changed some since it was announced:
| March 2026 announcement | September 2026 update | |
|---|---|---|
| Reported project cost | $10 million | $8 million |
| Hoped-for construction start | Summer 2026 | "As soon as this year or by spring 2027" |
| Estimated build time | About a year | Up to a year and a half |
| Approved grants | $1M Restore New York, $165,000 county O-CHIP | Same, plus a $2.3M tax-break request to OCIDA |
According to syracuse.com's September report, the proposed 12-year agreement would bring in $1.2 million in county, town, school and village taxes over its term. If the site stays empty, it would generate $72,830 over the same period. The development agency will vote after a public hearing. The Village of Solvay posted a Milton Corner LLC public hearing notice on September 28. At the March announcement, Mayor Derek Baichi said, "Folks, our main street is coming alive."
Halloween week is the year-round plan's first test
The last week of October gives the new coffee-and-ice-cream stop its first real test, and plenty is happening within a few minutes of it.
- Wednesday, October 28, 7 p.m. The Syracuse Orchestra brings its all-ages Haunted Orchestra to Solvay High School, 600 Gertrude Ave. It includes a costume contest with prizes.
- Saturday, October 31, morning. Pressed opens at 6 a.m. Saturdays are on its schedule, and it closes at 3 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, 2 to 3:30 p.m. Solvay Public Library hosts its Halloween Costume Party.
- Saturday, October 31, 4 to 8 p.m. Candy and Comics with Funky Town Comics & Vinyl, set up outside the library.
If you want a sandwich somewhere other than Pressed, Sam's Chicken Land at 527 Charles Ave., near Westvale Plaza, is the subject of a recent Syracuse Sandwiches column on its $11.99 grilled chicken-and-cheese sub. It's open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
If your drive uses eastbound I-690, leave extra time. A NYSDOT advisory says the eastbound lanes are down to one between Exit 10, the NY 695/Lakeland/Auburn exit, and Exit 11, the NY 297/Fairgrounds/Solvay exit, for bridge work. The lane reduction runs from October 14 until 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11, and the schedule depends on the weather.
If you've watched 1623 Milton sit empty, or you're wondering what Milton Corner could mean for your block, I'm always glad to talk about it, ideally over a Process latte at that shared table. Lori Harrington follows Solvay's main street closely. Let's Connect.
