Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [51]
Milne spelled out his plans for the base property and the neighborhood around it: a waterfront hotel with about two hundred rooms; a conference center and physical-fitness area; extended-stay residential units; and eighty units of housing. “We will use the proposed hotel and conference facility as an extension of our facility committing to 100 of those rooms on a daily basis for visiting international staff and other professionals,” Milne said. “In addition we require conference space and are exploring a ‘virtual’ Pfizer University to keep our researchers up to date on the most recent breakthroughs in biotechnology. The extended stay housing will provide for researchers who often stay for periods of up to 3–6 months. Year round quality housing is also crucial to recruiting top scientists. The waterfront residential neighborhood envisioned provides a one-of-a-kind housing option desired by many of our employees. As a result, the NUWC property is and has been key to our investment in the area.”
To date, Milne had not been so specific, so blunt, and so clear in expressing Pfizer’s desires and motives for the ninety acres of private land around its new facility. He had enough confidence in what he and Claire were contemplating that he was willing to do what corporate executives typically shun: spell it all out in black and white. He even pledged a partnership with the NLDC.
“We are prepared,” he told Claire, “to enter into agreements with the NLDC and developers to build the type of facilities we require … We have also requested the NLDC to expedite the development as quickly as possible to meet our schedule … for the unveiling of the new, New London.”
Milne wasn’t telling Claire anything she didn’t already know. The real target of his letter was Governor Rowland. Milne sent him a copy. Claire and Milne needed the governor to redouble his support for the NLDC-Pfizer partnership. That meant stepping up the pace of development and squeezing more money out of the state for mounting costs.
The letter worked. Governor Rowland and Peter Ellef agreed to meet with Claire and Milne one month later. In the meeting Milne and Claire made a pitch for more money—a lot more money. It wasn’t the first time the NLDC and Pfizer had come back to the Rowland administration for additional cash, but this time the governor had some reluctance. The project had taken on some messy overtones. Between fights with the newspaper and the homeowners, Claire and the NLDC had a black eye, and the governor wanted to avoid bad public relations. Rowland liked Claire’s results; he just didn’t like the dirty details that produced those results.
Before agreeing to more state funding, Rowland wanted proof that the expenditures represented “real numbers.” And he wanted some assurance that there would be no more requests for money. The meeting ended with the governor’s demanding answers in writing.
Claire and Milne had reason to be concerned when they left the governor’s office: his enthusiasm had clearly slipped; his demeanor had changed. If the governor failed to go any further in his commitment, the plan to overhaul the peninsula might need to be scaled back. They had to convince him to stay on board.
A couple of weeks later they sent Ellef a jointly signed letter. “You challenged us eighteen months ago to deliver New London in the way that the private sector works—on time, on budget, and on goal,” Claire and Milne said. “So far, we have not missed a trick. There is a significant risk that delay now will derail the project that you initiated and that we are implementing. We need you to stay with us as we continue to march forward.”
Before committing to more funding, the governor now wanted to see proof that other investors were committing money to the plan. But the NLDC had no one to point to. Desperate for credible backers, Claire made a bold decision: she pledged a commitment from the Connecticut College board of trustees. With a little more time and another infusion of state