Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [28]
The politicians smiled. It was party time. New London’s ship had finally come in. And Claire was the captain.
“We thought of the idea of putting everybody on the ferry and taking them to the site,” Claire recalled. “People cried. It was like a dream come true was right around the corner.”
12
BAD BLOOD FORMING
Pfizer to Expand into New London.”
Susette saw the headline the minute she walked into a convenience store to pay for gas.
Why would Pfizer want to come to New London? she wondered, but she didn’t give it much more thought.
Later that day, she saw Von Winkle. “So, you’re all dressed up today,” she said, making fun of the fact that his shirt was tucked in.
He brought up the Pfizer story.
She asked what he thought about it.
He laughed. “Maybe I can finally get out of here and get paid for my buildings,” he said. Susette sensed he was serious.
Von Winkle was way ahead of her. He explained that he had already talked to Steve Percy at the NLDC and told him his price for all of his buildings in the neighborhood: $700,000.
Susette didn’t get it, so he spelled it out for her: if Percy came up with $700,000 and dealt fairly with him, Von Winkle would sell.
“Well, I’m not planning on going anywhere,” she said. “I just got here.”
The NLDC set an ambitious timetable to acquire the properties in and around the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. In all, it wanted close to one hundred properties. The responsibility for coordinating the acquisitions fell to Steve Percy, whose real-estate office employed agents who were capable of knocking on doors and offering money to property owners in exchange for options on their property.
Besides all the commercial and industrial properties around Fort Trumbull, between seventy-five and one hundred people resided in the area. The occupants had a median annual family income of $21,250, ranking them among some of the poorest people in the city. While waiting for the purchasing funds to arrive from the state, the NLDC had a plan to persuade the residents to sell out fast. It authorized Percy’s real-estate agents to offer $1,000 to each property owner who optioned his or her land to the NLDC. To motivate the agents to go after the options aggressively, the NLDC established a compensation scale for the agents. For the first twenty-five options secured, agents received $3,000 per property. For the next sixteen options secured, agents received $4,000 per property. Any additional options would net agents $6,000 each.
The financial incentives touched off a frenzy among real-estate agents. Within a week, brokers knocked on nearly every door in the neighborhood. Confused and scared, the residents didn’t know what to do. Approximately twenty homeowners immediately granted options on their land. Most indicated they would sell if they had no choice.
Percy gave Claire and Milne a progress update: “An incomplete review of the 55 properties not under option indicates the following,” he wrote. “Twenty-four of the properties should be under option within two to three weeks. Seven more may be under option within five weeks. Nine properties would require a higher than fair market price for the option. The remaining properties would be difficult.”
With so many properties changing hands so quickly, Percy’s firm stood to make a bundle on the transactions. The closings also promised a windfall to the NLDC’s law firm, Waller, Smith & Palmer. Percy provided the firm a list of the addresses of the properties. The law firm agreed to perform title searches, to prepare all closing documents, and to represent the NLDC at approximately seventy closings at a minimum fee of $550 per closing.
His winter vacation finished, Day publisher Reid MacCluggage headed back to Connecticut. While away, he had kept a close eye on the events unfolding between the NLDC and Pfizer. He liked the fact that Pfizer had selected New London—the city needed a boost.
Only one item gave