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Forum, the Boylston street restaurant heavily damaged in the Boston Marathon bombings, closed its doors for the final time Sunday. The landmark, which reopened after nearly four months of reconstruction after the bombings, shut down permanently due to a rent increase.

According to a statement by Euz Azevedo, president of Boston Nightlife Ventures, which owns Forum, the restaurant is closing due to delayed insurance claims and its landlord tripling the rent.

“At least I’d like it to stay open for the marathon and kind of come full circle,” said Chris Loper, the restaurant’s general manager. “But it wasn’t in the cards.”

Forum employees said they took pride in the spot as symbol of hope in the wake of the bombings. Surveillance footage from the restaurant assisted investigators in identifying the bombing suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Sean Vandy a worker at the restaurant called it the embodiment of “Boston Strong.” “I kind of got to grow as a family with them,” said Vandy. “I kind of really just [had the chance to] take on that whole pride and sense that Forum gives to the city.”

— Kate Campbell

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