Alas, another beloved restaurant in one of Houston’s busiest neighborhoods is going to be replaced by a clinic. This time, it’s the Upper Kirby space that once housed Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar.
A Sept. 28 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows the Memorial Hermann Medical Group is planning to add a primary-care clinic at 2405 West Alabama St. The project calls for an interior remodel of the 6,900-square-foot space with estimated costs around $750,000. Construction should start on Nov. 2 and end in April 2027. The Houston Business Journal first reported the news.
Fleming’s announced its closure in March after 25 years in operation. A representative with Bloomin’ Brands, the restaurant’s parent company, told Chron it was because the lease was expiring. The steakhouse was the brainchild of Paul Fleming, who also helped develop the popular P.F. Chang’s Chinese Bistro and Pei Wei Asian Diner chains. The Houston location opened in 2001.
For those with long memories, this same thing happened in the same area a little more than a decade ago. Prince’s Hamburgers at 3899 Southwest Freeway was a great spot for old-school, hot griddle burgers and shakes. It closed in 2015 and was replaced by a Rios Healthcare Clinic.
That Prince’s was part of a larger chain of restaurants that used to be a prominent fixture around the Houston area for decades. The Broussard family purchased the brand in the 1990s in an attempt to revitalize it, but Hurricane Harvey did them dirty in 2017. They tried again in 2020 at the Sharpstown Golf Course, but it closed again three years later.
While Prince’s is gone, Fleming’s is still around. The steakhouse chain still has locations in Town & Country Village and the Woodlands.