NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Ben Benson’s – the iconic Midtown Manhattan steakhouse – will close its doors for good next month, WCBS 880′s Steve Scott reported.

The steakhouse was founded in 1982 at 123 West 52nd Street. The final day will be Father’s Day – June 17.

Proprietor Ben Benson, famous for having his spoon in the creamed spinach, told Scott that he’d rather not have to close the restaurant.

Benson With Scott

“I don’t really want to. We’ve been negotiating with a very stubborn landlord for a while now and it seems that to renew after 30 years, to give us another 15, unless we pay them a lot more money, which we could not, I mean the demands were, in my mind, outrageous,” he told Scott. “We just had to say ‘Thank you, but no thank you’ and close our doors.”

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Benson said he has been approached about doing a new joint-venture restaurant.

He said he doesn’t know how active he wants to be, but, he would like to “keep the legacy going.”

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