Wichita’s last drive-in gets new owner after earlier closing

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Wichita’s last remaining drive-in will be back to show movies next year.

The Wichita Eagle reports an anonymous person has purchased The Starlite Drive-In, which closed in October. The deal was announced Friday by Landmark Commercial Real Estate, a Wichita-based group that brokered the deal.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

The new Starlite buyer will lease drive-in operations to Blake Smith, co-owner of the Admiral Twin of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The drive-in is expected to reopen in spring.

Chuck Bucinski, the previous owner, said in October that he was closing the drive-in because of financial difficulties.

The two-screen outdoor theater is one of only five still operating in the state, and the only one in south-central Kansas. It opened in 1953.

___

Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com