Life After Pfizer
Drug Company's Move Worries Residents
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The people of New London want to know who will move in when Pfizer moves out.
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With Pfizer picking up and moving out of its New London campus, residents are wondering who's going to be left picking up the million dollar tax bill.
"Being involved with real estate as well, I wouldn't be surprised if a corporation that size has already found an entity in place to start look at marketing the property," said Andrew Lockwood, a New London businessman.
Residents are worried about what kind of company will take Pfizer's place in the Pequot Avenue site.
"Lot of people's concerns in New London that they will turn it into a non-profit, which then again, will pay no taxes, and that's a huge concern of the city, especially with the eminent domain factor. We lost a huge tax base by Fort Trumbull moving all those people out of there," said Lockwood.
"Hopefully, somebody will come in and continue paying full prices with the taxes. I don't want to see an abatement like we had last time, because as homeowners, we don't get a break," said Cheryl Lawrence of New London.
The city will be meeting with both the state and Pfizer. It says it wants to be kept in the loop to make sure it knows who Pfizer is proposing to sell the property to.
"Say look, we want to be a part, we know you own the building, but we want to be a part of making sure how you're going to market the building because we are going to be obviously a neighbor to whoever goes in there," said City Councilor Rob Pero, who is also the Mayor-elect.
Both the city and residents are hoping whatever company moves in, its employees will contribute to New London businesses and real estate. Because with Pfizer leaving, the city is losing more than 1,000 jobs.
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