"88 Drive In Theatre sold out like everyone else," blasts Denver resident Jared Gallegos in the comment section of a Commerce City Facebook post announcing the closing.
Located just off Interstate 76, the 88 Drive-In is truly the last of its kind in the area, with the next closest drive-in the Holiday Twin in Fort Collins.
The 88 has been owned by the Holshue family since 1976 and is currently run by Susan Kochevar, daughter of Bill and Margret Holshue, who purchased it from people who used the outdoor cinema to show soft-core porn. The single-screen theater has been up and running since 1971 and now shows popular Hollywood movies like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Big George Foreman, both of which are currently playing.
"I've been going here for decades and still do. It's a must EVERY summer with family and friends," says Westminster resident Krystal Hernandez. "Definitely a sad day to hear this news. Little by little saying goodbye to the good ol' days. At least my children got to experience a childhood favorite of mine before it's torn down just for another warehouse."
According to Commerce City officials, Kochevar — who ran as the Republican nominee for Colorado House District 29 in Jefferson County in 2014 — has chosen to "step away" from the theater business and is now taking the property into a "different direction for the future."
"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," says the government Facebook post dated June 1. "The property owners are requesting a zoning change to allow a multi-tenant warehouse building to take the place of the theater."
On Monday night, June 5, the Commerce City Council will determine whether the plans to erect a multi-tenant warehouse building on the cherished 88 grounds "aligns with the Land Development Code and meets the associated criteria," according to the city's Facebook statement. "The discussion is not to decide whether or not the drive-in theater should stay, as that is the decision of the owners/operators."
City officials first learned of the 88 owners' plan to sell on May 16, when it was presented at a meeting of the Commerce City Planning Commission. "The owner-slash-operator is ready to leave the movie theater business," said urban planner Nathan Chavez during the zoning case presentation.
In a statement sent to Westword on Monday, Kochevar and her management team offered up their own explanation for why they were finally bringing down the curtain after nearly half a century in business — insisting it was not an issue of selling out.
"The 88 Drive-In would like to set the record straight and tell you about our reasons for selling our beloved drive-in theatre," the statement says. "Firstly, this decision was not made lightly and was a joint decision of the family. We are not a big, greedy corporation. We are one small family with a family-run business. ... We were not approached by any buyers prior to putting the property up for sale. The property was put up for sale about two years ago, and has been under contract for about 18 months. ... We realize that there is also a current community need to expand 88th Ave and Rosemary to accommodate the explosion in population in the area, and we feel the land is at its highest and best use for the community in the re-development plan the buyer has created."
The statement adds, "Please, remember us with a loving, tender heart and know that this decision was not made from greed, but from sadness and loss. Our family grieves the loss of the drive-in, but it is what is best for us and for the community. The best way to support us in this time is to grieve with us, share with us your stories of the good times on our Facebook page. We do not know when our last night will be at this point, but we will be sure to post it when it is set. In the meantime, come on out and enjoy some movies under the stars and make some lasting memories."
"The 88 Drive-In would like to set the record straight and tell you about our reasons for selling our beloved drive-in theatre," the statement says. "Firstly, this decision was not made lightly and was a joint decision of the family. We are not a big, greedy corporation. We are one small family with a family-run business. ... We were not approached by any buyers prior to putting the property up for sale. The property was put up for sale about two years ago, and has been under contract for about 18 months. ... We realize that there is also a current community need to expand 88th Ave and Rosemary to accommodate the explosion in population in the area, and we feel the land is at its highest and best use for the community in the re-development plan the buyer has created."
The statement adds, "Please, remember us with a loving, tender heart and know that this decision was not made from greed, but from sadness and loss. Our family grieves the loss of the drive-in, but it is what is best for us and for the community. The best way to support us in this time is to grieve with us, share with us your stories of the good times on our Facebook page. We do not know when our last night will be at this point, but we will be sure to post it when it is set. In the meantime, come on out and enjoy some movies under the stars and make some lasting memories."
The one roadblock that Kochevar and future developers face in replacing the drive-in with a warehouse comes in the form of a zoning issue related to its PUD — or Planned Unit Development — status.
The drive-in was originally approved as an Adams County PUD in 1971 before being annexed into the city and zoned to the current PUD in the mid-1980s. "The PUD only allowed for a drive-in theater and an existing single-family residence," says the zone change report.
Developers want to rezone the 88 Drive-In property from a PUD, or Planned Unit Development, to an I-1: Light-Intensity Industrial District.
Commerce City
In order for a multi-tenant warehouse to go up, the 88 developers would need to get council to approve the rezoning of the 6.91-acre lot from a PUD to an I-1: Light-Intensity Industrial District. The city website describes an I-1 as a "general commercial and restricted industrial district designed for a variety of compatible business, warehouse, wholesale, office, and limited industrial uses."
Speaking at the May 16 planning commission meeting, Commerce City planners described how the property where the 88 Drive-In currently stands meets the I-1 zoning bulk standards and city's approval criteria.
"Rezoning allows the site to redevelop into dozens of other uses," Chavez said.
John Strabel, regional director of First Industrial Realty Trust — which is looking to develop the 88 grounds into a warehouse property — told the planning commission that the company wants to construct a building that's 80,500 square feet with a car park facing Rosemary that features "nice reveals and details."
"It's a 32-foot clear building," Strabel said. "Elevation will probably be about 38 feet."
Developers want to start construction on the property sometime in the spring of 2024, according to Strabel.
Developers want to put an 80,500-square-foot warehouse building on the lot where the 88 Drive-In has stood since 1971.
Commerce City
"Some of you may remember in 2014 there was quite a community predicament in which Commerce City had attempted to shutter the drive-in’s doors for good for being a safety issue," Kochevar and her team said in their statement. "We deeply appreciate the metro-wide community coming out to support us. It was not a small feat. Approximately 20,000 people helped preserve our beloved drive-in."
Ironically, Kochevar blamed the traffic backups on residential growth in the city and a construction project that was aimed at widening Quebec Parkway.
"The city manufactured a 'traffic dilemma' and has caused me to spend the entire summer trying to fight them off," she told Westword at the time, adding that the police chief "wants me to rip up part of my drive-in in order to accommodate the traffic. That will ruin me."
Fast-forward to June 2023, and now it's Kochevar who wants to rip up the decades-old drive-in.
"Per the submitted development plan, all structures currently on the site would be demolished before the site is redeveloped as a proposed multi-tenant warehouse," says the zone change report.
As in 2014, Kochevar is citing development as the reason for closing up shop.
"As what happens to most drive-ins, the cities begin to grow up around them," according to her statement. "The warehouses surrounding the property are causing a large amount of light pollution, diluting the movies’ quality. Noise pollution from the increasing amount of traffic from both 88th and Rosemary as well as the nearby train tracks, the rock company to the West and the steel factory behind the drive-in create a lot of noise. Further, the property directly across from the drive-in is being redeveloped which will bring more traffic, noise and lights. In fact, nearly all of Rosemary Street appears to be in some stage of redevelopment."
Regardless of how everything goes down with Commerce City, Kochevar says she will always cherish her family's time running the metro area's last drive-in.
"We have enjoyed serving Commerce City, and the entire Denver metro area," her statement says. "We will remember you by thinking about your children tossing balls back and forth in the lot while the sun is setting anxiously waiting for the movie to start. We will remember you by recounting the stories of first dates, engagements, and even babies, who were a result of the drive-in. We will remember you standing by us in the bad times and the good. We will remember your families huddling together under the blankets in your pickup trucks and SUVs. We will remember you sneaking some of our snacks to your beloved furry family members. And we will even remember you sneaky ones hiding people in the trunk!"
