CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Crop entertainment complex in the Flats East Bank will close, according to owner-chef Steve Schimoler.

"We have made the call to move on from the Flats locations as of Sept. 11," said the Cleveland chef, via phone from Italy, where he is taking a six-month sabbatical.

The complex includes three venues: Crop Sticks, Crop Rocks and On Air.

Schimoler also closed his Uptown eatery Crop Kitchen last month.

He acknowledges that the closing of Crop Kitchen and his sabbatical sparked rumors about the Crop restaurant group, which includes its anchor location, Crop Bistro in Ohio City.

"I've been going nonstop for 35 years, and I decided it was time to recharge the batteries, work on some recipes and write a book," he says.

He reiterated that the closing of Crop Kitchen was a matter of time and had no correlation to Crop Bistro.

"One thing you realize after 35 years is that it's all about the business and the bottom line - and Uptown is still a developing neighborhood," he says. "The traffic wasn't there yet, and it's a student kind of neighborhood. I just didn't want to take the time to wait it out for Uptown to develop into a neighborhood that would support Crop Kitchen."

The Crop Flats complex opened in August 2015. It operated as the home base for McClatchy Media during the Republican National Convention and resumed regular operations after the convention.