‘Finish of an period’: Motor-Vu Drive-In will quickly be demolished to make manner for housing

RIVERDALE, Weber County — Bushes across the now-shuttered web site of a Riverdale drive-in are coming down, and demolition of the screens, entry and different buildings is imminent as strikes to transform the location right into a housing improvement spring ahead.

“It is the tip of an period, for certain,” stated Brandon Cooper, the Riverdale neighborhood improvement director. Simply 4 drive-ins now stay in Utah, in response to DriveInMovie.com, a web site centered on promotion and preservation of the out of doors theaters.

Information of the looming demise of Coleman’s Motor-Vu Drive-In publicly emerged in 2022, when the homeowners introduced films would not be proven till additional discover. Concurrently, information emerged that the 20-acre web site the place the drive-in sits had been rezoned to permit for housing. The drive-in opened in 1947, and the grounds additionally housed a weekend swap meet in later years.

Now, in response to Cooper, the redevelopment initiative — the location’s to be known as Coleman Vu Estates — appears to be transferring forward at full bore. Bushes have been razed off 1050 West, close to the entry to the location, and Cooper stated demolition is about to begin subsequent week. Asphalt will likely be eliminated and the screens used to indicate films will likely be torn down, together with the lined drive-thru entry, the place moviegoers as soon as paid for his or her tickets.

Tooele-based Goldcrest Properties is the developer, and 68 properties are to be constructed on the location at 5369 S. 1050 West, in response to improvement plans. Beginning in June, the location’s infrastructure will likely be developed — utilities, sidewalks, curbing and roads — adopted by development of a few of the preliminary properties, presumably starting later within the coming summer season. “It is a phased strategy,” Cooper stated.

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When information of the Motor-Vu plans first emerged, many publicly clamored, recalling evenings spent watching films on the locale. The nostalgia appears to have since died down.

“We have had a few issues. Nothing like when the property was going via the entitlement course of,” Cooper stated. Most individuals, he thinks, have come to grips with the truth that Motor-Vu will likely be disappearing.

The remaining Utah drive-ins, in response to DriveInMovie.com, are the Basin Drive-In in Mount Nice, the Echo Drive-In in Roosevelt, the Erda Drive-in in Tooele and the Redwood Drive-In in West Valley Metropolis.