Thu, Aug 07, 2008
 Marcus van Winden and Nicole Blaser take in "What Happens in Vegas" at the DeAnza Drive-In, which could be on its way out. A developer is dotting the i's and crossing the t's on a purchase deal, but the landmark theater at East 22nd Street and South Alvernon Way could still operate for as long as a year. Photos by Dean Knuth / arizona daily star
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Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.15.2008
The end of the road appears near for Tucson's last drive-in movie theater.
A developer is finalizing a deal to buy the De Anza Drive-In, at 1401 S. Alvernon Way, and has already started marketing it as a retail complex.
Evergreen Development Co. is calling the project De Anza Crossings, a 20-acre retail "power center," in marketing materials distributed by Picor Commercial Real Estate Services.
Depending on Evergreen's success in finding tenants, the theater might be closed immediately after the sale is completed, said Teri Oldknow, senior vice president of the De Anza Land and Leisure Corp., which owns the theater.
But De Anza would also consider leasing the theater and continuing to operate it temporarily, possibly as long as a year, she said.
"We're basically business as usual until grading happens," Oldknow said. "We'll run the drive-in until the day it gets torn down."
Gregg Alpert, Evergreen managing principal, declined to say when he expects the sale to be final, saying only that it would be "later this year." As far as Alpert knows, De Anza Land and Leisure doesn't have plans to keep running the theater after the sale, but "we would be open to it," he said.
This isn't the first time Tucson's last drive-in has come close to being sold. A Denver drive-in owner tried to purchase it in 1999, but financing for the deal fell through, according to Star archives.
The property has been under contract several times since then, said Mike Cecil, a longtime manager at the theater. Cecil said he hasn't heard whether the sale will go through this time.
"All I ever know is, you're up for sale, eventually at some point in your life, it will be sold," Cecil said as he stood at the theater's refreshment stand Monday night.
"I enjoyed it"
Cecil said he has worked Tucson-area drive-ins for more than 30 years, getting his start as a teenager filling sodas. At one time, there were more than a half-dozen in the Tucson area.
Cecil said he moved from one to another as each was closed. He said he will probably leave the business for good if the last one is torn down.
"It's just where I ended up being stuck," he said about his drive-in career. "But I enjoyed it."
The number of drive-in screens across the country was 635 last year, down from 2,084 in 1987, according to the Washington D.C.-based National Association of Theatre Owners. Drive-ins take up a lot of land and are often sold to developers as the value increases, said Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the association.
"It becomes economically more sensible to sell the land as opposed to keep running the business," he said.
At East 22nd Street and South Alvernon Way, the theater property is in a prime spot for retail, said Oldknow, of the De Anza company.
"It's really incredibly well-located," she said, pointing out its proximity to Reid Park, Interstate 10 and retail-heavy East Broadway.
Alpert said Evergreen is weighing other options for the property besides a power center, but "traffic count and rooftops make a compelling case for retail." About 100,000 vehicles pass by it each day, he said.
Some drive-ins flourishing
Evergreen has offices in Phoenix and Glendale, Calif. Its Tucson-area developments include Steam Pump Village in Oro Valley, Madera Marketplace in Sahuarita and several Walgreens stores.
De Anza Land and Leisure Corp. owns seven drive-ins in Arizona, California, Utah and Georgia, Oldknow said.
Even though many drive-ins have been sold, some have seen a boost in business in recent years, Corcoran said. Some moviegoers go to drive-ins for nostalgic reasons, and others are looking for affordable family entertainment, he said. Tucson's De Anza theater charges $6 per person for admission and lets children under 9 in for free.
The Tucson theater is still profitable for De Anza Land and Leisure even with a major limitation, Oldknow said.
Many drive-ins do double-duty as venues for swap meets and flea markets. Those aren't held at the Tucson theater because there is already the nearby Tanque Verde Swap Meet on South Palo Verde Road near East Ajo Way, Oldknow said.
A portion of the Tucson theater's business comes from hard-core regulars, Cecil said. One of them, maintenance worker Dean Dunifon, comes almost every night, Cecil said.
On Monday evening, Dunifon waited for the gates to open in his truck with his "date," a Labrador retriever-Rottweiler mix named Joanee.
Dunifon said the theater reminds him of his childhood and he'll miss it when it's gone.
"The city is going to lose an experience," he said. "The kids just love it, just like I did."
● Contact reporter Christie Smythe at 434-4083 or csmythe@azstarnet.com.
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