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Flames destroy former Scacchetti’s Restaurant
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Austintown firefighters battled a blaze late Monday morning at the former Scacchetti’s Restaurant on Mahoning Avenue at Four Mile Run Road. When the fire started, workers were inside, cleaning up the building for a new owner who planned to open a new restaurant there.
By Denise Dick
Austintown
Plans to open a new restaurant at the site of one that closed several years ago likely will be on hold after flames destroyed the building Monday.
Firefighters were called to the former Scacchetti’s Restaurant on Mahoning Avenue at Four Mile Run Road late Monday morning.
Chief Andy Frost Jr. said the building was sold recently, and the new owner planned to open a new business there.
“Workers were working in the building near the hood area and said there was a lot of grease there,” he said.
The workers thought a spark might have started the blaze.
There was no determination about a cause Monday or whether the building is a total loss.
“It doesn’t look good right now,” Frost said.
Township firefighers used two ladder trucks and a pumper to douse the flames. Smoke billowed from the building’s roof, visible for miles.
“It’s still burning,” the chief said. “It’s going to be burning for awhile.”
What made putting out the fire challenging was remodeling work done over the years.
“It’s been remodeled half a dozen times or so,” Frost said. “It’s got false ceilings.”
Workers who were inside the building at the time the fire started declined to comment.
No one was injured.
Mahoning County property-tax records show that the building was sold last March by Scacchetti’s Inc. to SVC 1 LLC of Mahoning Avenue for $79,750.
Secretary of State’s office records show that SVC 1 was incorporated last February by Samuel Vincent Cianciola who couldn’t be reached.
The 2,593-square-foot structure was built in 1925.
Scacchetti’s closed about six years ago and moved to the Tiffany Plaza on U.S. Route 224 in Boardman. It closed in that location a couple of years later.
Michael Alberini’s Restaurant and Wine Shop opened in its place.
Before operating as Scacchetti’s, the building housed Michelangelo’s, another restaurant, for many years.