SANTEE DRIVE-IN SALE SPARKS OUTCRY; PROPERTY IS IN ESCROW, CITY CONFIRMS

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By Mike Allen

May 13, 2023 (Santee) – Soon after East County Magazine posted news that the 65-year old Santee Drive In Theater was in escrow, this website began hearing from people that the story was “wrong” and to stop publishing “fake news.”

 

The seller of the property, which doubles as the Santee Swap Meet on weekends, Susan Forte Boyd, sent an emailed statement to ECM that drive-in was not sold.  However, ECM has reconfirmed that the property is in escrow.

 

"It is a statement of fact that the Santee Drive-In Theatre has not been sold," ForteBoyd said in an email. She also said the reporter (me) and his sources got the facts wrong, and never contacted the sellers.

 

That is not true.

 

Subsequent contacts with the city of Santee underscore the veracity of ECM’s original story. Michael Coyne, Santee’s principle planner, told ECM initially that the property is in escrow to North Palisades Partners, a builder of mainly commercial industrial buildings based in Los Angeles.

 

Coyne said NPP was seeking to obtain entitlements necessary before the city granted building permits for a 291,000 square foot building on the 13.49 acre site at the eastern edge of Santee. ECM reached out to Forte Boyd by email before the story ran and got no response. There was no phone number provided, nor does the business website have one posted.

 

The buyers were also contacted several times by both phone and email. They are represented by former Santee Mayor and City Councilman (from 1980-2002) Jim Bartell, who asked for and was provided a list of questions to put to North Palisades. There has been no response from Bartell after repeated calls and emails.

 

ECM again reached out to Coyne for additional details after ECM was bombarded with angry emails, but the best he could provide was, “The property has not been sold.  I did inform you, based on my knowledge, that the property was in escrow.” Coyne said in a subsequent email that escrow would not close until the proposed project is entitled.”

 

Coyne did provide a rendering of the proposed building, given by NPP.

 

Kyle Whissel, owner of Whissel Realty Group in Santee, said in commercial transactions, a buyer and seller will negotiate on terms of a contract before entering into a binding contract that usually involves a down payment ranging from 1 to 10 percent of the total price. The transaction may also be contingent on the buyers obtaining entitlements for the new development, a process that may take six to 12 months, he said.

 

He also said the seller’s assertion that the business hasn’t sold is likely true, although he had no knowledge of this transaction. “But just because it hasn’t sold doesn’t mean it’s not under contract,” Whissel said.

 

“It could be they’re playing games and don’t want to admit they’re under contract,” he said.

 

Santee Councilman Ronn Hall said he has met with an NPP executive and discussed the proposed project, which he said “looks like a great set up for what they’re doing.”

 

The planned facility would entail one building of nearly 300,000 square feet and stand two stories, and will be used as a warehouse for a major national retailer, either Amazon or Wal-Mart, Hall said.

 

“They don’t have a tenant yet, but I saw a picture of it,” he said.

 

Told of Forte Boyd’s denial of the sale, Hall said, “She’s 100 percent correct it’s not been sold because it’s in escrow.”

 

“That (statement) is kind of disingenuous and that’s the problem,” Hall said. “The reality is it’s in escrow.”

 

So why is the seller being so adamant about this, Hall was asked.

 

“She’s saying it so she can keep her business going for the next four to five months until it goes through escrow,” he said.

 

Whissel said it makes sense that a project like this is happening because industrial space in East County is so scarce and vacancy rates are at the lowest in many years, estimating it was around 2 percent. “There’s not enough industrial space here,” he said.

 

According to a first quarter report by commercial firm Kidder Mathews, the vacancy rate for industrial space for all of San Diego County was 3.8 percent, but for East County it was 1.5 percent, and for Santee, it’s 1.7 percent.

 

Whissel said he was sad about hearing the Santee Drive-In would eventually become a thing of the past, and that his family has gone there often. “For this property to get developed, it’s sad….It’s not something I want to see.”


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