The Santee Drive-In Changes Hands

Market Context

Originally under contract for $37,000,000, market uncertainty and new government legislation forced a re-pricing of the asset to $22,000,000.

Signed into law in September 2024 and taking effect January 1, 2026, AB 98 established new statewide design and siting standards for large-scale logistics and warehouse development — including expanded setbacks near sensitive receptors such as homes and schools; new truck-routing requirements; and new construction and electrification standards — adding meaningful cost and complexity to ground-up industrial development across California.

Despite the repricing, Inland Pacific shepherded the deal through three years of shifting capital markets and a more restrictive regulatory framework to bring the sale to a close, reflecting continued demand for large, entitled-ready industrial land in a submarket where sites of this scale rarely trade.

“With low vacancy and almost nowhere left to build, buyers are competing for anything that lets them break ground quickly, and this parcel gave them exactly that,” said Aidan James, Managing Partner at Inland Pacific. “The adjacent Wheatlands Business Park is a consistent industrial performer —small-bay, owner-user and multi-tenant buildings that still command strong demand. A site of this scale inside that footprint doesn’t come around twice.”

Seller Strategy

The site was long home to the Santee Drive-In Theatre, which operated for 65 years before showing its final films in December 2023. A weekend swap meet continued on the property afterward under a series of temporary extensions, with the last one expiring August 2026.

The adjacent Wheatlands Business Park is well-supported with a transit center within walking distance. Shopping, dining, and recreational amenities stretch along the CA-52 and CA-67 corridors to the west and east. With the city of Santee’s August 2025 approval of a 42-dock-bay warehouse distribution center on the Property, bringing a projected 185 jobs to the area, the timing of the sale was ideal.

Its location in the Wheatlands Business Park coincided with Inland Pacific’s aggressive transaction activity nearby, making IP the informed choice for valuation and buyer recruitment.

The 13.5 acre Woodside Avenue sale is the latest — and by far the largest — in a run of sales Inland Pacific has closed in Wheatlands Business Park and the surrounding area:

• 9225 Isaac Street — 20,000 SF, sold, represented buyer

• 9315 Wheatlands Road — 15,000 SF, sold, represented buyer & seller

• 9335 Stevens Road — 15,000 SF, sold, represented buyer & seller

• 10848 Wheatlands Avenue — 18,100 SF, sold, represented buyer & seller

• 9424 Abraham Way — 12,500 SF, represented buyer & seller

About Inland Pacific Commercial Real Estate

Founded in 2001 by James Renner, Inland Pacific Commercial Real Estate is a leading industrial and investment brokerage serving East County San Diego. greater Southern California and select out-of-state markets. The firm has completed more than $1.2 billion in commercial real estate transactions.

Inland Pacific provides advisory services across industrial investment sales, agency leasing, tenant representation, and property management, with a focus on data-driven strategy, market expertise and long-term value creation.