Boylston's Forum restaurant says it's closing

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) - One of the most iconic locations from the Boston Marathon bombings is closing. 

The president of the group that owns the Forum Restaurant on Boylston Street says skyrocketing rent is forcing him to close for good. Euz Azevedo says its last day of business will be this Saturday.

Forum suffered heavy damage when the second bomb went off near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Three people were killed in the bombings and another 260 were hurt. The trial of bombing suspect Tzhokhar Tsarnaev is underway about two miles from the bombing site.

After the bombing, it took four months to restore the restaurant, which made it the last business impacted by the bombings to reopen.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was among the huge crowd on hand to celebrate the restaurant's triumphant return in August 2013.

On the day of the bombing, Forum was the location of a fundraiser hosted by former New England Patriot Joe Andruzzi. Andruzzi was standing out on Boylston Street when the bombs hit and famously picked up a wounded woman carrying her to safety. He returned to the Forum a year later on the anniversary of the bombing for another fundraiser. Tickets to the charity event sold out weeks in advance.

Forum management said they knew in 2013 the road to financial recovery would be long, but business had been good. In the end, it was the landlord's decision to nearly triple the rent that shut it down. "This rent increase makes it financially impossible for Boston Nightlife Ventures to operate and sustain a business at a location that means so much to us and to our city,” Azevedo said.

Euz Azevedo posted on the restaurant's website that he was announcing the closure with a heavy heart. He said employees will be offered jobs at the company's other restaurants.

"We cried together, we smiled together- none of those times will be forgotten," Azevedo said.

Cox Media Group