1 / 4

The entrance to Coleman's Motor-Vu Drive-In, photographed Thursday, May 30, 2024. The drive-in will be demolished for redevelopment in June.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

2 / 4

A "for sale" sign is posted at the shuttered Motor-Vu Drive-In, photographed Thursday, May 30, 2024. The theater is being demolished to make way for new homes.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

3 / 4

The shuttered Motor-Vu Drive-In, photographed Thursday, May 30, 2024, is being demolished to make way for new homes.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

4 / 4

The shuttered Motor-Vu Drive-In, photographed Thursday, May 30, 2024, is being demolished to make way for new homes.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

❮ ❯

RIVERDALE — The end is nigh for one of Weber County’s best-known landmarks and an entertainment destination for decades.

Trees have been brought down at the lot where Coleman’s Motor-Vu Drive-In once operated, and the full-on demolition of the old outdoor theater will be completed in a matter of weeks. In its place, a 68-lot development known as Coleman Vu Estates will be constructed by Goldcrest Homes.

A sign announcing the construction of new houses, parks and walking paths, pickleball courts and a dog park has been posted on the lot near 1050 West.

Brandon Cooper — Riverdale’s community development director — told the Standard-Examiner that this kind of redevelopment is necessary given the growth pressure in the city and around the state. However, he, like many, has nostalgia for the old drive-in.

“I’ve lived in Davis County for 20 years, and so I’ve been going to Riverdale for as long. My wife is from North Ogden, so she and I have spent a couple of dates at the Motor-Vu,” Cooper said. “You can’t really be from Northern Utah and not have experienced that place.”

Goldcrest Homes CEO Gerald Anderson understands the emotions that come with such a change, too, describing the drive-in — which originally opened in 1947 — as being “iconic” within the local community.

In the end, though, he believes that redevelopment of the shuttered site is a net positive for the area’s future.

“We have to avoid this sprawl, where we just keep driving further and further and further to a lot, to a home,” Anderson told the Standard-Examiner. “So, there’s an opportunity for 68 homes, 68 families to live closer to where there are a lot of amenities. … The Colemans, it was a good run when they ran the theaters. But it’s like many times with farmers — the next generation, they don’t want to run the farm. So, farm after farm gets sold.

“That was the case with the Colemans. They just had made the decision that their time to sell and move on had come.”

According to Anderson, development will come in phases. After demolition is completed in late June/early July, the site’s infrastructure is expected to be installed by October/November, at which point construction on individual lots will begin.

He said it takes four or five months for Goldcrest to finish one of their builds, which would mean completed homes by spring 2025. Anderson expects that the homes will be sold in the $700,000-$900,000 range.

Sentimentality aside, there also was a level of concern about potential traffic issues with the development. However, Cooper noted that the Utah Department of Transportation has designs on installing a roundabout just south of the lot where 1050 West, South Weber Drive, 1150 West and Ritter Drive converge.

“That’ll help alleviate some of the traffic,” he said, adding: “There was a traffic study done at the time of the site plan approval, and so that’s all taken into consideration.”

Said Cooper of development plans around the city — i.e., Motor-Vu and also the river bottoms, near the city offices: “It’s important that Riverdale has increased its appeal to people. So, we’re going to start to think about redevelopment opportunities and dealing with growth in a smart way.”