Insurer sues wood refinishers for fire that heavily damaged venerable Jacob Wirth during restoration needed due to a previous fire

The insurance company for the owners of the Jacob Wirth restaurant on Stuart Street this week sued three wood-refinishing companies it alleges caused a four-alarm fire through negligence last June 24 - just as renovations were nearing completion.

In the suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, the Scottsdale Insurance Co. of Scottsdale, AZ, blames American Builder Hardwood Floor, Next Goal Corp. and Alpha Floor Sanding for the fire, which it says caused at least $3.8 million in damage - and yet another delay in re-opening the German eatery and bar, which closed in 2018 after extensive water damage from firefighters extinguishing a fire in the building's upper floors.

The insurer alleges:

The fire was caused by a failure to dispose of or improper disposal of one or more flammable substance(s) used in the course of wood-refinishing and/or materials containing such substance(s).

One of the companies was hired to "perform hardwood floor refinishing," another was doing similar work on the restaurant's bar and the third was doing "wood refinishing of the wall paneling," Scottsdale avers.

After the 2018 fire, various entrepreneurs proposed new uses for the building, including as a sports bar and a marijuana dispensary. In 2021, Julius Sokol, affiliated with City Realty, proposed restoring and re-opening Jacob Wirth basically as it was before the 2018 fire.

He and City Realty principal Fred Starikov - with whom he had joined in buying dives in the Boston area, bought the building in February, 2023, and won approval in December, 2023 to convert the upper two floors into four apartments. 

Jacob Wirth started selling his own beer in 1868 - in a building across the street from the current location.

The three companies have until July 17 to answer the complaint.