Jan. 5--Morton's The Steakhouse closed its SouthPark location this weekend, becoming the first major casualty of a raft of upscale beef purveyors that have come to Charlotte in recent years. The restaurant opened in January 2005 on the Barclay Downs Road side of SouthPark mall.

"The Morton's restaurant team has been working diligently to improve operating results but has not been able to reach the base financial targets needed to support continued operation," the company said.

The uptown Morton's location, which has been in business for 14 years, remains open and continues to be a strong performer for the Chicago-based chain, the company said in the statement. Morton's will try to relocate as many employees as possible, the company said.

A glut of upscale, chain steakhouses have opened in Charlotte in recent years, largely in uptown and SouthPark. The city now has about 15 such restaurants. Brazilian steakhouse Chima, for instance, opened uptown just a few months ago.

The SouthPark Morton's was one of four upscale chain steakhouses operating within a few blocks of one another in the SouthPark area. The Palm opened at Phillips Place in 1997, Ruth's Chris opened a Fairview Road location in October 2005 and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House opened a Piedmont Row location in 2007. Another steakhouse chain, Fleming's, backed out of a plan to open a location at the nearby Morrison development because of concerns that there were too many steakhouse competitors in the area.

-----

To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.charlotteobserver.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:MRT,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.