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Raja Rani located at 400 S. Division St. on Wednesday, October 22, 2014.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News)

Update:

Another longtime business in downtown Ann Arbor is closing.

Raja Rani Indian restaurant, at 400 S. Division St., will close Oct. 31 after the owners said they could not come to a lease agreement with the landlord.

“The lease expired in July and we are on a month-to-month. We’ve been negotiating over the last three months (with the landlord), we just couldn’t come to an agreement,” said Raja Rani manager Jay Singh, whose family purchased the Raja Rani business about 16 years ago.

Bajwa Harlivleen Trust is the registered owner of the building, which has a 2014 assessed value of $337,400.

Singh’s family purchased Raja Rani in the late 1990s, more than 20 years after the restaurant opened.

Raja Rani owner Jay Singh poses for a photo in the dining room of the restaurant on Wednesday, October 22, 2014.

Singh said business at the restaurant has remained relatively stable, but expenses have gone up since the lease expired earlier this year. He also cited competition among Ann Arbor’s growing restaurant scene as a factor in the closure.

“Expenses have gone up quite a lot,” he said. “It’s harder to pull new customers and there’s a lot more competition now. Every time expenses go up, you can’t just charge the customer for that. It’s tough to maintain.”

Raja Rani has 12 employees, which includes six members of the Singh family.

“It’s a big change,” Singh said. “All of our employees are feeling it. We are definitely feeling it.”

As for what’s next for the family, Singh said they wouldn’t rule out opening another restaurant in the area.

“We’re keeping an open mind,” he said. “We’re just going to take a little break and decide. We love Ann Arbor. I want to thank customers so much. We had a great time and we will still see them around.”

The news of the closure comes one week after two other longtime downtown businesses announced plans to close. The 47-year-old Middle Earth gift shop will close in December at 1209 S. University Ave., while the 26-year-old Falling Water Books & Collectables plans to close in December at 213 S. Main St.

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at 734-255-2638, email her lizzyalfs@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter.