Metro Denver’s last drive-in theater is closing to make room for a warehouse

The last drive-in movie theater in metro Denver — the 88 Drive-In at Commerce City — is closing.

And instead of a red sign shaped like an arrow and flickering Hollywood fare, drivers rolling past the theater, located in the relatively affordable Irondale neighborhood, may soon see an 80,500-square-foot industrial warehouse touted as an appealing amenity.

The local owner of the theater at 8780 Rosemary St., has decided to close it after showing movies since 1976. Developers have asked city council members to approve a re-zoning of the 6.5-acre drive-in site to allow construction of the proposed warehouse, Commerce City officials said in a Facebook post. City council members will consider the re-zoning request after a public hearing on the matter Monday evening.

“We know the drive-in theater is a valued part of the community for many people,” city officials said, distancing themselves from the closure.

“The owners of the 88 Drive-in Theater have chosen to step away from their business and go in a different direction for the future of that property. The decision to close the theater was not made by the city, and Commerce City has not asked or encouraged the drive-in to close its operation.”

But the zoning change would allow a warehouse replacement that city staffers have said will align with Commerce City’s plan for redeveloping the low-income, largely Hispanic Irondale neighborhood on the west side of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. At the hearing, city leaders must decide whether to sign off on their staffers’ recommendation to approve the rezoning.

At a city planning commission meeting on May 16, developers with the Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust presented their proposal for a warehouse open every day all day with up to 85 employees that “will serve as an amenity” by being “a convenient distribution center” surrounded by landscaping and two stormwater runoff ponds connected to sewers. Their proposal says “this development will be a fantastic addition to the city and the Irondale neighborhood.” Construction originally was to begin this month, city documents show, but the 88 Drive-In website on Monday indicated George Foreman and Spiderman movies still are scheduled.

Theater operators could not immediately be reached.

The theater opened in 1972, and the current owner Susan Kochevar, from a local family that has run the theater since 1976, advertises the quality of its giant screen and powerful projector lamp, 540 feet away from the screen. A snack bar helped in the goal of giving customers “the greatest outdoor cinema experience” in “the last remaining original drive-in in the Denver metro area.”

A box office opened at 7 p.m. “rain or shine” and the owners “fought Holloywood’s demands for higher ticket prices” in part by urging customers not to bring food and drinks and, instead, buy from the theater snack bar.

Commerce City annexed the land in 1985. A city review process recently determined that the proposed re-zoning for a warehouse “is consistent” with leaders’ goals in the Irondale Neighborhood & Infrastructure Plan and Comprehensive Plan. “Irondale as a whole is trending further towards industrial uses and character. ….. the owner of the 88 Drive-In Theatre no longer wishes to continue the business. Instead of letting the site fall into disrepair, they have sought to sell to new owners with a new development.”

Widened right-of-ways on surrounding roads will allow increased traffic, anticipated with the industrial transformation of the area.

Once, Irondale served as a factory town (around the Kibler Stove Works plant) and census data showed a median annual income of $23,472 with residents 84% Hispanic, compared with 45% in Commerce City overall, where the average income is nearly three times higher. The area around the 88 Drive-In is still home to a mix of residential homes, small businesses, and farms.

Around Colorado, surviving drive-in movie theaters include the following:

• The Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista
• The Star Drive-In in Montrose
• The Mesa in Pueblo
• The Comanche Drive-In in Buena Vista
• The Blue Starlite Drive-In in Minturn
• The Holiday Twin in Fort Collins
• The Tru-View Drive-In in Delta

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