Houston's Upper Kirby Fleming's steakhouse closing after 25 years

A location of one of Houston's longer-running steakhouses will be closing after a 25-year run, CultureMap Houston first reported. Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar has announced that its Upper Kirby restaurant's last day at 2405 W Alabama St. will be April 18.

"Our lease is expiring. … Team members will have the opportunity to transfer to another restaurant," a Bloomin' Brands representative told Chron.

The Houston Chronicle first reported on Fleming's arrival in 2001 as part of a larger story on the changes happening in the Downtown office market. One of those developments was Ainbinder Co's 50,000-square-foot project at West Alabama Street and Kirby Drive, the second part of the Centre shopping center. One of the earliest tenants announced was Fleming's Steakhouse which opened a year later. A notable hire at the restaurant was Maeve O'Gorman Pesquera, a former mentee of legendary Houston restaurateur Tony Vallone.

(The project happened to be on the site of the former Ale House, which closed ahead of the construction. Its successor, the Stag's Head, was already in the works at Shepherd Plaza.)

Fleming is the namesake restaurant of Paul Fleming, the restaurateur also responsible for helping develop P.F. Chang's Chinese Bistro and Pei Wei Asian Diner. The first restaurant opened in Florida in 1998 and later grew to a chain. Bloomin' Brands, previously OSI Restaurant Partners, bought the brand in 2004, adding the fine-dining steakhouse to its portfolio. Today, the chain boasts more than 60 locations across the U.S. and another in Brazil.

Fleming's other Houston-area locations are still open, including at Town & Country and in the Woodlands.