Lynn officials confident family feud won’t affect new Market Basket

LYNN – While a Demoulas family drama played out in a boardroom in Andover on Thursday, Lynn city officials met with Market Basket supermarket chain officials and came away confident the feud won’t disrupt plans to put a grocery store on Federal Street.”Market Basket is a huge, huge corporation that is bigger than just one person,” said Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Executive Director James Cowdell. “No matter what happens it will continue to do business, and we just hope it will continue to do it in Lynn.”Market Basket’s Board of Directors voted Thursday to keep longtime CEO Arthur T. Demoulas instead of his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. The power struggle has divided the family but Lynn officials feel strongly that it won’t impact the city.”We asked that specific question,” said Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy. “And they said they didn’t think it would have any impact.”Kennedy said representatives from the company that owns 71 Market Basket stores shared a rendering of the Factory of the Future property that showed a parking plan and possible delivery areas. Cowdell said Demoulas is still working on a traffic study and they hope to meet with the City Council soon.”They’re handling this in the right fashion,” he said. “Once they pull the permits we’re looking at nine months until the building is completed.”View Market Basket in Lynn in a larger mapHe had no time line, however, for when the project will break ground.Cowdell called the project that is slated to cover 24-acres off Western Avenue a huge win for the city and is confident that however the corporation drama plays out the Lynn project will be fine.”We met with the Demoulas people and they showed no signs of distress,” he added. “It’s all engines forward.”City Council President Timothy Phelan said he has been in contact with property owner Charles Patsios who is also, for the most part, confident the project will continue unhindered.”The traffic study has been paid for by Market Basket and we’re taking that as a positive sign,” Phelan said. “(Patsios) hopes it will be business as usual. He’s keeping his fingers crossed but you just never know.”Supporters of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas demonstrated as the company’s board decided whether to oust him.Some members of the Demoulas family have accused him of reckless spending and failing to accept board ownership. The family feud over company ownership has gone on for years.He says relatives, including a cousin on the board who has the same name but a different middle initial, want more control of the company and to pay themselves more.Demoulas employees gathered Thursday to testify in support of his leadership, under which they say the company and their families have prospered.”My husband has worked for this company for over 30 years,” Noel Gordon told The Boston Globe. “He started as a sacker and has moved his way up. There are not many companies left where someone without a college degree can live the American dream, and he’s been able to do that.”Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].