Azure Cafe in Freeport will close at the end of the day Feb. 23. Photo by Claire Jeffers

The owners of Azure Cafe, a Freeport restaurant that has been serving seafood and Italian classics for 17 years, have announced they are closing the business after dinner service Sunday.

Jonas and Kate Werner founded the restaurant at 123 Main St. – just two doors down from L.L. Bean – in March 2003.

They posted the announcement of the closure on the restaurant’s website and Facebook page, citing issues with the lease renewal: “We have worked in earnest, together with our landlord, to find a way forward to a new lease term. We were both asking for something the other could not give. There is no one to blame and no hard feelings. This was our decision.”

The Werners are known for their community service and charitable giving. In 2003, the couple founded the annual Freeport Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which serves a free Thanksgiving Day dinner to the public at the Freeport Community Center.

Jonas Werner, contacted Friday, couldn’t say if another restaurant is in the family’s future.

“After we close Azure, we will head over to Miss Brunswick Diner, slide some quarters into the jukebox, sit down for a cheeseburger and fries, and then discuss what’s next,” he said.