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Coming attractions at former Delaware drive-in theater: six-buildings in business park

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2 months ago

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A long-vacant drive-in theater north of Felton may be featuring six small businesses in the shadow of the still-standing movie screen.

Property owner Felton Drive-In LLC and president Jeffrey Garrison have proposed a business/industrial park on 8.16 acres where the former theater showed animated films “Bolt” and “Madagascar 2” at its final screening about 16 years ago.

The site is on the west side of Route 13 at 9758 S. Dupont Highway south of Plymouth Road.

Plans include six buildings, 9,750 square feet each, for a total of 58,500 square feet, said Mike Riemann, engineer for the project from Becker Morgan Group. The maximum building height will be 30 feet.

The buildings are designed to serve local contractors and small businesses, he said.

Most of the land is vacant except for the movie screen, a house and another building. The screen and building will be demolished, but the home will remain for now on part of the site slated for possible commercial development closer to the highway. The six buildings in the business/industrial park will be farther west of Route 13.

The county regional planning commission approved the site plan application 7-0 April 11.

“I think it’s a great improvement,” commissioner Paul Davis said. “You’ve done a wonderful job. It’s been an abandoned place for a while.”

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Why has the site been abandoned for so long?

Riemann said the owner requested that the county extend sewer lines to the property. Tidewater Utilities will provide water.

“That’s probably why this property sat vacant. It really didn’t have water and sewer,” Riemann said.

The land is zoned “general business” which allows a business/industrial park. The county’s comprehensive plan designates the area as highway commercial, so the proposed use complies.

No fire sprinklers are required because each building is under 10,000 square feet, but the site will have a fire system with water lines looping the site and fire hydrants. The fire lanes meet or exceed requirements.

The site will have two stormwater areas totaling 32,803 square feet. Landscaping includes new trees in addition to the existing trees as a buffer to neighboring properties, along with trees and shrubs around the parking areas.

Disagreement on parking

As for parking, 59 spaces are required, but the owner is providing 80 spaces.

The county’s planning staff recommended a place for overflow parking in case a business such as a brewery moves in and holds events that might require more spaces.

Riemann said there are already 21 more spaces than required, and if a venture like a brewery is proposed, then parking for that business can be addressed by the county at that time.

County Planning Director Sarah Keifer said the recommendation for overflow parking is an advisory, meant to “build in as much flexibility as possible because we want them to succeed,” but the final approval is up to the planning commission.

The entrance and exit will be on Route 13 south, with a right-in entrance and right-out exit. A right turn lane will be built.

Memories of the former drive-in

The Diamond State Drive-In opened in 1949, according to the Cinema Treasures website. In 1966, the theater was renamed the Hi-Way 13 Drive-In which closed in 1985. Ten years later, a new owner reopened the business with the original name, Diamond State Drive-In, which closed in 2008.

“I actually went to a movie there when it tried to reopen,” Riemann said at the April 11 planning commission meeting.

Commission chairman William Jester said he remembers that time.

“The lines were a mile long out on the highway,” Jester said, adding that he was surprised the business didn’t survive.

The rise and fall of drive-ins

The closing of the Diamond State Drive-In mirrored the decline in popularity of drive-in theaters across the country. When it went out of business in 2008, it was the last one in Delaware.

Another company opened a drive-in near Bear in 2021, but it only lasted a year.

More on former Bear drive-in: Get your popcorn ready: Bear’s first drive-in theater to debut in a few weeks

According to the New York Film Academy website, drive-in theaters date back to the 1910s, but they really took off in the 1950s and ’60s with the Baby Boomer generation. The number climbed to over 4,000, mostly in rural areas.

During the oil crisis in the 1970s, the Film Academy said “people downsized their cars in order to save money on the inflated cost of gas, making it uncomfortable to watch movies at the drive-in. To make up for lost revenue, drive-ins began losing their family-friendly atmosphere by showing exploitation films like slasher horrors as well as adult content.”

Then the development of the VCR made it easier to watch movies at home.

“Economically speaking, it became more practical for owners to close their drive-ins in order to sell their land to developers to build malls or multi-building complexes,” the Film Academy reported.

In 2023 there were still over 300 drive-ins open across the U.S., but Delaware is one of six states that don’t have any, along with Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, North Dakota and Wyoming, the Film Academy said. 

Reporter Ben Mace covers real estate, development and business stories. Reach him at rmace@gannett.com.

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