By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.
Swampscott resident and developer Charles Patsios was joined by Lynn Mayor Judith Flangan Kennedy on Monday, as an excavating machine begin the work tearing down the walls of the once state-of-the-art General Electric (GE) manufacturing facility dubbed the “Factory of the Future.”
The building, which had basically sat empty since 1988, was sold to Patsios by GE in 2013, after Mayor Kennedy and the LYNN Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) convinced GE officials to designate the site, and downtown Lynn, for redevelopment.
Patsios has since signed a contract with Market Basket to develop the site for a new Market Basket grocery store. The new store will use the existing frame and foundation of the building and add an additional 20,000 square feet of retail space. The partial demolition of the existing building is expected to take about 10 days or so, depending on the weather and the new Market Basket is slated to open about a year from now.
“GE built a very solid foundation, and we are adding to it,” said Patsios.
The new store is expected to create 400 new jobs for Lynn and the surrounding area and the Market Basket is expected to serve Lynn and Nahant residents, as well as shoppers form other neighboring North Shore communities.
Late last year, Patsios and Market Basket CEO Arthur T. DeMoulas were at the site together with city and state officials to announce $2.5 million in MassWorks infrastructure grant that will be used to improve the roadways, signage, lighting and traffic flow around the 16-acre parcel, which sits near the intersection of Federal Street and Western Avenue and is surrounded by Spencer, Marion and Waterhill streets.