Giant Rent Hike Forces Forum to Close

Forum will close on Sunday, reports the Globe, thanks to the rent going up by nearly three times. "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," BNV president Euz Azevedo writes in a statement. He adds that the restaurant group — which also includes Wink & Nod, The Tap Trailhouse, and Griddler's Burgers and Dogs — will retire the name Forum "out of enduring respect for the events surrounding our brief but unforgettable history at 755 Boylston St."

Of the Boylston Street businesses damaged by the Marathon bombing in April 2013, Forum was hit the hardest and wasn't able to reopen until August after undergoing a large renovation.

Azevedo's statement also notes that the group has new concepts in the works for 2015 and beyond, and the group is able to offer Forum's staff a variety of opportunities to stay with the restaurant group at one of their other venues.

In January, Bill Brodsky closed his waterfront restaurant City Landing to join Boston Nightlife Ventures as their "chief culinary officer," and one of his first projects will reportedly be to open a second Griddler's Burgers and Dogs, a project which has been in the works for quite some time.

UPDATE: In a new Globe article, landlord Paul Roiff disputes Azevedo's statement, saying that the rent was going up by less than double and that Forum had been warned about a future significant rent increase when the lease was signed in 2011.