Deal to save the Starlite Drive-In is dead, would-be buyer says. ‘We were this close.’

An effort to save the Starlite Drive-In is dead, says a drive-in theater owner who wanted to buy it.

“We were this close. We were this close to moving forward and reopening the drive-in,” said Rick Cohen, owner of the Transit Drive-In in Buffalo, N.Y., who was trying to buy the Wichita drive-in with Blake Smith, co-owner of the Admiral Twin in Tulsa, Okla.

But they discovered Tuesday that the drive-in’s costly digital projectors have already been sold off — and cannot be bought back.

Without the projectors, the deal isn’t feasible, Cohen said.

The Starlite Drive-In closed on Oct. 13, as owner Chuck Bucinski reached a deal to sell the land to an undisclosed developer who wanted to construct a warehouse on the property.

But since Friday, the city of Wichita has helped to mediate a deal to sell the Starlite to Cohen and Smith and keep it operating.

The developer was willing to step back and let Cohen and Smith buy the theater, the two said.

But the digital projectors, which were purchased in 2013 for $187,000, had to be included in the sale.

“This whole deal that could have saved the drive-in theater got mucked up because Chuck sold the projectors,” Cohen said. “Unfortunately, because of the projector issue, it’s no longer a viable deal.”

(Read more: Local News |)