Robinson drive-in on its way out of Allegheny County

By next summer, Allegheny County will be down to its last drive-in movie theater.

The Twin Hi-Way Drive-In on Steubenville Pike in Robinson probably will give way to a Sheetz gas station and convenience store, township officials said Tuesday.

A public hearing on the project is scheduled for Monday before commissioners. The project could get final approval in November, said Robinson manager Jeffrey Silka.

The 48-acre site has housed a drive-in theater for decades and sits in the middle of a heavily developed stretch of Route 60. Only a portion of that land will be devoted to the new Sheetz, Silka said.

A petition to keep the theater open has been placed on Facebook. Robinson officials say they do not expect the petition to influence approval of the project.

“I am sure the commissioners will take a look at it. It's privately owned property, though,” said Robinson commissioner Earl Mapel. John Butya, owner of the property, did not return phone calls on Tuesday. Nor did Jerry Salnoris, owner of the theater.

Dave Hazelet, director of real estate for Altoona-based Sheetz Inc., said the company plans to pay for installation of a traffic signal on Steubenville Pike at the site.

“This is a strong commercial area that is not overbuilt. It is a major artery,” Hazelet said.

The planned Sheetz won't sell alcohol, he said, and he expects most of the store's sales to come from food. “We sell a lot of food,” he said.

Allegheny County's only other drive-in is The Dependable in Moon.

Several convenience stores, including a GetGo, a Speedway and another Sheetz, opened recently on a one-mile stretch of Route 60, Mapel said.

Drive-in theater owners have endured steep and often insurmountable expenses in recent years.

The Twin Hi-Way was closed for 13 years until 2013, when it reopened with many renovations. Yet the upgrades did not include digital projection, which costs about $70,000 per screen.

That's a cost few theater owners are in a position to pay, said D. Edward Vogel, administrative secretary of the United Drive-in Theater Owners Association and owner of Bengies Drive-In Theatre near Baltimore.

Built by his father and uncle in 1956, it's Maryland's last drive-in theater.

There are nine drive-in theaters in Western Pennsylvania, down from about 150 during their peak popularity in the late 1950s. There are fewer than 400 drive-ins in the United States, down from more than 4,000 in the late 1950s.

Sprawl and higher land prices have lured many drive-in owners to sell, Vogel said. In many cases, Wal-Mart bought land occupied by drive-ins, he said.

Rick Wills is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7944 or rwills@tribweb.com.