After considerable pushback from neighbors, the owner of the Diamond Head Denny’s, under construction at 2538 Kuhio Ave., has decided to open without a liquor license.

Denny’s franchise owner Medhat Bechay said Friday that he plans to withdraw his application for a restaurant general liquor license and reapply later if customer demand warrants it.

“Our first priority is to establish a full-service family restaurant, and beer/wine sales are not an essential component of that objective. We will reconsider that decision based upon customer demand and further community input,” Bechay said.

Bechay said he’ll update the Honolulu Liquor Commission at the next hearing, to be held Thursday at 4 p.m. at 711 Kapiolani Blvd. It will be the third hearing for Bechay, who originally applied for a 6 a.m.-to-2 a.m. liquor license but amended it after a swarm of concerned citizens said they were opposed to alcohol service at the restaurant, adjacent to President Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.

The Waikiki Improvement Association and the Hawaii Hotel &Lodging Association supported the application. Still, there was enough opposition that Bechay told the commission Jan. 11 that he was willing to restrict his application to inside sales of beer and wine between 11:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. He also agreed to supply a security plan and keep a bar out of the restaurant, which sits on land owned by former First Hawaiian Bank CEO Don Horner.

Horner said he volunteered to provide a construction update Tuesday to the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, which holds its 7 p.m. meeting at the Waikiki Community Center. With construction nearly complete, Bechay said he’s focused on hiring an opening staff of four managers and 75 to 100 workers. He plans to open this spring.

State Rep. Tom Brower voiced some initial concerns about the application to the commission but said he hopes that once Denny’s opens it will have “a track record that will make neighbors feel more comfortable.”

Brower said he’s hopeful that all parties will be able to reach a compromise.

Two opponents, Curtis Crabbe and Rachel Linden, say the opposition movement still plans to attend Thursday’s hearing and will keep watch to protest any new application. They don’t want any restaurant serving alcohol so close to residential condominiums, the Honolulu Zoo and Jefferson Elementary. They expect late-night and early-­morning alcohol consumption would increase crime and loitering around the restaurant.

“We will continue with our community organizing,” Linden said. “This is one of the main issues that is important to Waikiki and to our children.”

Crabbe, Linden and others have formed a group, Livable Waikiki, Livable waikiki.com.

The group will recruit opposition to foil any attempt at a new license, Linden said. They’ll also are trying to collect objections from 50 percent plus one of the registered voters, owners or lessees within a 500-foot radius of the school, she said.

In the absence of enough qualified objectors, licensing decisions are left to the commission’s discretion, Crabbe said. The group has organized a charter bus and still plans to bring residents, school parents and schoolchildren to the hearing.

Tricia Huffman, a parent of 9-year-old twins who go to Jefferson Elementary, said she plans to attend.

“I’m not against Denny’s but I’m against the liquor. I’m concerned with loitering. I’ve seen it happen in other places where liquor is sold,” Huffman said.

Dorothy Herring, the mother of two Jefferson Elementary students, said, “Cheap alcohol sales are a recipe for disaster.”