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 rezoning 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 heard testimony during a Monday evening council meeting from city staff, the drive-in’s longtime owner and the new buyer but continued a final vote on rezoning until next month.
Councilmember Craig Kim, during Monday’s meeting, fondly remembered sitting in his pickup truck, catching a flick at the drive-in.
“It’s truly disheartening for me to see that the owner would want to sell,” he said.
The decision, city officials said, “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 Spider-Man movies still are scheduled.
A First Industrial Trust representative told council on Monday that, if approved for rezoning, they wouldn’t expect to close until the end of the year and likely wouldn’t build until next year.
The theater opened in 1972. 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 Hollywood’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.
Kochevar on Monday told council that operating expenses, the COVID-19 pandemic and nearby noise has greatly affected her business. She noted that drive-ins are struggling all over, with an estimated 300 left in the country. Four generations of Kochevar’s family have caught movies at the drive-in but it’s “getting extremely difficult to operate,” she said.
“I’m faced with being bled dry or selling it,” the business owner said. “I don’t wanna see it left empty.”
Commerce City annexed the land in 1985. A city review process recently determined that the proposed rezoning 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
