A leader in Arlington's restaurant boom starting in 1996, flora is reported set to close June 30.

Boston Restaurant Talk reported Saturday, June 4, that the East Arlington location, in a former bank, will be replaced by Financier, a French-inspired dining spot.

According to a Facebook post, "After 20 years of service, Bob and Mary Jo Sargent are saying goodbye to their loyal staff, guests and friends of flora." The owners identify their successors: "Cyrille Couet and Wayne Duprey will be continuing flora's dedication to the community with a new name, new smiles and fresh energy!"

The blog points to a Kickstarter page for Financier >> That page says: "The last day of service for Flora will be June 30th. During an expected 2-3 month closure we will re-brand the restaurant and provide an internal face lift in order to provide a fresh start. We want to create a comfortable and cozy restaurant that gives the surrounding communities a space to take advantage of for dining and relaxation."

Financier says its goal is to open in September as a French-inspired restaurant celebrating New England's local fish, dairy, protein and produce while paying tribute to the history of the building itself.

The new restaurant gets its name from the spongelike French cake made famous outside the Stock Exchange in Paris, where they were intentionally shaped like a bar of gold.

"Our restaurant will sit inside a building that was originally built to be a bank," the Kickstarter page says, "and so we find this to be an appropriate celebration of the 'sense of place' that the building itself inspires."

Flora, at 190 Mass. Ave., has seen success in two decades, offering seasonal New American items, such as mussels, fish chowder, beef flatiron steak, butternut squash ravioli, roasted chicken, leg of lamb, pork tenderloin and swordfish. It is considered pricey.

This report was published Saturday, June 4, 2016.