Mayor corrects ‘misinformation’ on Trader Joe’s, says property owners intend to keep store open
McGovern is glad that the store, ‘a staple in our community,’ is to stay
Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern, who wrote to The Tech in an emailed statement Monday that he had heard the Trader Joe’s on Memorial Drive would “have to leave” due to redevelopment of the area by Kimco Realty, updated his position earlier today.
“It appears I may have received some misinformation. I am so glad Kimco has decided to keep Trader Joe's in Cambridge! They have become a staple in our community,” McGovern tweeted this morning. His comment was in response to a tweet by Karleigh Moore G, chairman of The Tech, which linked to The Tech’s article on the possibility of Trader Joe’s closing.
“I had heard from community sources that the Trader Joes [sic] / Microcenter property on Memorial Drive had been sold and was going to be redeveloped, resulting in Trader Joes having to close. I have since become aware via a statement by the new property owners that the information I had was incorrect and that Trader Joes will not close,” McGovern wrote in an email to The Tech this afternoon.
“This is good news as the loss of this market would negatively impact the Cambridgeport neighborhood specifically and the City as a whole,” McGovern continued.
Jennifer Maisch, Director of Corporate Communications at Kimco Realty, wrote in an email to The Tech Wednesday that “there are no plans for Trader Joe’s to close” and that “there are no formalized plans [for the redevelopment of Memorial Plaza] at this time.”
Editor’s note: The Tech noted this discrepancy between McGovern and Maisch’s information in its original coverage, after informing McGovern of Maisch’s statement and asking for clarification on what the reason for it might be and what his sources were.
McGovern’s response was quoted in part in the original article and is included in full here: “My information came from community sources who said that the site was being redeveloped. I'm sorry but I have given you all the information I can about this. I was told that the site was being redeveloped and Trader Joe's was closing. That is why I made that statement.”
McGovern did not re-classify his original statement as “misinformation,” as he later did in his tweet, at the time.