DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services directed the sale of a 13.5-acre parcel of commercial land in El Monte for $24 million.  The Lara Team, Nick Peukpiboon and Rudy Lara, SIOR, from DAUM’s City of Industry office represented both buyer and seller.

The property at 2540 Rosemead Blvd. was formerly the home of the Starlite Drive-In movie theater. Following the demise of the drive-in theater business 30 years ago, the site was sold to Taiwanese-based Starlite Swap Meet Group and the site became known throughout Los Angeles for the Starlite Swap Meet.

The weekend-only swap meet, a mainstay of the El Monte community since the 1990s, was closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened. With its closure, the current owners decided they were ready to sell the property.

The buyer, Los Angeles-based KB Homes, will use the property to construct up to 200 new homes in a new housing development.

“This property was an excellent opportunity for both the buyer and seller to achieve their business objectives,” said Peukpiboon. “After owning the land and managing the Starlite Swap Meet for three decades, the owner was ready to sell. With available land for new development at a premium, the chance to purchase over 13 acres of empty acreage was too good to pass up for KB Homes.”