Nine on Nine in Downtown Pittsburgh will breakup after Valentine’s weekend.

The restaurant at the corner of Ninth Street and Penn Avenue in the cultural district is offering Valentine’s specials, Thursday through Saturday, serving a three-course dinner for two for $120.

Then the doors will close for good.

Owner Courtney Crawford said the building’s owner told her over the summer that the rent would increase. She said it’s cost prohibitive to remain.

William Gatti, president and CEO of the building’s owner Trek Development, on Saturday disputed Crawford’s contention about the increase.

“The rent was never raised,” he said.

The restaurant would have celebrated 13 years in April.

Crawford has explored other options such as Fox Chapel because it’s close to where she lives; Market Square; Lawrenceville; and the North Side.

“I haven’t found anywhere yet,” she said. “I have been looking. When he told me my lease would double I decided that was too much. I did want to stay open through the holidays because I had parties booked and our customers are important to us. So are our employees.

She said the price going from $17 per square foot to $32 was too high an increase. She said she liked having her restaurant in town because of the business from the cultural district and corporate events and the local hotel business.

“We are a fine-dining restaurant and there aren’t a lot of other restaurants in the area with the quality of food we have,” Crawford said. “We also took very good care of the building from the sidewalks to planting flowers and keeping the area clean. It’s been traumatizing. There are 24 people who work for me who have families and depend on this job. My general manager has been with me since the opening months.”

JoAnne Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne at 724-853-5062 or jharrop@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Jharrop_Trib.

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