FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Restaurateur Fred Livingston is selling Sunset Grill at Restaurant Row, shown above, and the landmark Crouching Lion Inn restaurant on Windward Oahu.

Crouching Lion, Sunset Grill to sell

Owner Fred Livingston is getting out of the restaurant business

FRED LIVINGSTON, a long-time Honolulu restaurateur and serial entrepreneur, is selling the Crouching Lion Inn on Windward Oahu and Sunset Grill at Restaurant Row as part of a move to get out of the restaurant business.

Although Livingston said he has entered a deal to sell the Crouching Lion pending approval from the property's landlord, the Sunset Grill is still on the auction block for $185,000.

Livingston declined to name the Crouching Lion's buyer or the selling price because the deal is still pending.

Livingston, who has been in the restaurant business for more than two decades, said he plans to keep just one eatery, Don Ho's Island Grill in Aloha Tower Marketplace, which Livingston bought from fellow restaurateur Shep Gordon in 2002.

Livingston, who has owned helicopter and chemical companies, an advertising agency, a radio station and a carnival, has invested in several restaurants over more than two decades in the business. His eateries have included Matteo's Italian Restaurant, Trattoria Restaurant, the Tahitian Lanai and Davey Jones Ribs. All of those were previously sold or shut down and demolished to make way for redevelopment in Waikiki.

Known as a restaurant turnaround specialist, Livingston took over the Crouching Lion in the early 1990s at the request of its landlord, who was bringing the Kaaawa landmark out of bankruptcy at the time.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM General Manager Stu Schroder tends to Sunset Grill customers yesterday at Restaurant Row.

Specifically, Livingston said he wants to focus on his real estate ventures, which include an oceanfront subdivision he is developing in the Puna District of the Big Island. Livingston also owns and manages the Windward Business Center, a 50,000-square-foot complex in Kaneohe.

Listed by Colliers Monroe Friedlander, the Sunset Grill's $185,000 price tag includes furniture, fixtures and equipment; food, liquor and supply inventories; a liquor license, and a lease good through Dec. 31, 2007.

According to the listing, the 4,213-square-foot space at the corner of Ala Moana and Punchbowl Street carries monthly rent of $9,475.50 and monthly operating expenses of $4,729.