SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP — What was once the Sunset Drive-In will become a new location for a barn salvage business, said new property owner Joe Lykins.
According to the Richland County Auditor’s office, the property was purchased for $225,000 on Nov. 8. The lot is 13 acres.
Lykins, a Shelby resident, purchased the 4018 Ohio 309 property for his Buckeye Barn Salvage business, which he said will bring 10 new jobs to the workforce.
Lykins, 49, said Buckeye Barn Salvage has been repairing, cleaning and treating barns for eight years. The purchase of the new lot, he said, is the next step in the progression of his business.
He plans to building a 56-by-80 foot building on the site to be able to work in cold weather.
“This land will up my work load,” Lykins said. “We can work in a building, even in cold weather, and never miss a day.”
Lykins said the business will have three immediate job openings and six to seven jobs after the kiln and mill are operational.
He added the building will be constructed in the spring of 2020. He had plans to begin building right away, but he said he had to wait six weeks to get codes and permits.
“If it were up to me, I’d be building already,” he said. “But the government said I had to wait six weeks and after that it won’t be good weather.”
The Sunset Drive-In screen is still standing and Lykins said he didn’t know if he’d be able to take it down.
“I can tell you I’d like to take it down,” he said. “I don’t intend on using it. There’s no money in it.”
Sunset Drive-In opened in June of 1947 as the Mansfield-Galion Drive-in. It was renamed Sunset Drive-In in 1953.
