Original Red Robin restaurant to close

SEATTLE, March 2 (UPI) -- The University of Washington hangout that became the first restaurant in the Red Robin chain is closing.

The company said the building is too expensive to keep up and it has decided not to renew its lease on the location, The Seattle Times reported. Its doors will shut March 21.

Gerry Kingen, then in his 20s, bought the Red Robin Tavern in 1969. Four years later, he renovated a bar known for "burnt popcorn and plastic-wrapped sandwiches," adding burgers and fish and chips to the menu and adding a deck.

Two regular customers opened a Red Robin in Yakima, Wash., in 1980, starting a chain that now has more than 400 restaurants in the United States and Canada.

"I basically created a grownup's McDonald's," Kingen told the Times.

Red Robin, headquartered in Colorado, is a publicly traded company.

Anne Kreidler of Montlake Plaza LLC, which owns the Seattle restaurant site, said she expects to lease the property to another restaurant.