The new Demoulas Marketplace by itself is a fabulous project of inestimable economic value.
With more than 1000 employees and at least that many vendors, the Marketplace is an economic juggernaut for this city.
A payroll distributed once a week to 1,000 employees, most of whom live in Chelsea, gives an estimated $600,000-$700,000 to local people to pay their rent, to buy clothing, automobiles, gasoline and everything it takes to run one’s life.
The Chelsea experience with Demoulas will not stop with their 132,000 square foot aircraft carrier supermarket.
The family, after all, owns the entire mall, which remains perhaps the most significant open area for development in the city.
We know the family and city manager Jay Ash have been talking about what happens next, with an eye toward making the Demoulas Mall a bit more like what has happened over at Wellington Circle.
Wellington Circle, as a dreary a place as ever existed, has been transformed by up-scale housing, restaurants and retail stores and now has the look and the feel of a major neighborhood.
Here in Chelsea, there is the belief the mall could replicate what has happened at Wellington Circle.
A mixture of housing and retail, with landscaping and a sense of the adventure, could transform the mall into a thriving neighborhood that goes well beyond the Demoulas superstore.
It takes vision and cash.
The city has the vision.
The Demoulas have the banking relationships necessary to make things happen.
The day is soon coming when the Demoulas store will anchor a fabulous array of retail and residential.