Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [20]
“You know, Claire,” Milne said, “I can just see the Pfizer ferry going back and forth from that point of land to our site in Groton.”
Percy got a rush. He sensed that Milne was on his way to trying to bring Pfizer to New London. Claire had broken through. Milne was finally looking at the site in a different light.
“Having seen the possibility,” explained Milne, “I warmed to the notion that if enough pieces could come together, that in fact this would be something that Pfizer might be interested in.” He wanted to look into the matter more thoroughly.
9
CAN YOU GUYS LOOK INTO THIS?
Jim Serbia specialized in assessing environmental health and safety risks associated with real-estate development done by large corporations. In 1997, he had left Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis to become the real-estate manager for Pfizer’s research division. He reported to George Milne.
When he arrived in Connecticut, Serbia became acquainted with Pfizer’s previous construction project and the company’s immediate needs, which were directly related. In the early 1990s, Pfizer had expanded its hundred-acre research-and-development campus in Groton. At the time, one hundred acres had seemed more than adequate. But the drugmaker enjoyed phenomenal growth in a five-year span and by 1997 had maximized the capacity of its research facilities. It desperately needed more space, especially for animal labs.
This time, the company wanted a large, continuous tract of land with plenty of potential for future growth and development. The New England real-estate market had plenty of options. When word got out that Pfizer was on the hunt for property, proposals poured in. The company ranked potential development sites according to four criteria: expansion potential, schedule, cost, and risk.
Over a one-year period, Serbia and his colleagues reviewed many proposals. By the fall of 1997, Pfizer had narrowed its list of candidates to a few sites. Serbia and his team then met with Milne, who listened thoughtfully to their presentation. All of the sites under consideration had upsides for Pfizer.
Then Milne posed an unexpected question: “What about the old New London Mills site?”
Serbia thought Milne had to be kidding. The site hadn’t even been discussed, much less looked at. It had a fraction of the acreage offered by the other sites. And the land had been home to an industrial mill, a proposition that promised significant environmental-cleanup hurdles. None of the top sites under consideration required significant environmental remediation. The cleanup in New London would delay the start date of construction. The other sites were ready to go right away. To Serbia and others, it was hard to see an upside to the mill site.
“Can you guys look at this site?” Milne asked.
Serbia dutifully agreed. The company’s architects and project designers were also not enthused. They had spent months analyzing and accessing the other sites. It would require a big effort in a very short time period to evaluate the New London site. Those already familiar with it thought even considering it was nuts. Nonetheless, Serbia and his associates went all-out to find the answers Milne had requested.
Susette checked her caller ID. It contained a number she didn’t recognize. She dialed it. A man answered.
“I had your number on my caller ID,” she said.
“What’s your number? he asked.
She told him. He insisted he had called Susette’s number only after someone at her number had called him and left a message.
“Well, I didn’t call you,” she snapped. “Perhaps one of my sons called your phone from my house. Do you have any kids?”
“No,” the man said, “I don’t have any kids.”
“Well, I didn’t call your damn house,” she said before abruptly hanging up on him.
A few minutes later the man called back. Susette was about to tell him where to go, but before she could, he apologized for the misunderstanding and suggested the mix-up was probably on his end.