Part 4 (1/2)

Susette told him she was in the hunt for some antiques and wanted to have some raised flower beds put in around her house. LeBlanc offered to help, and he invited her to visit his place and check out his antiques collection. She accepted.

It didn't take long for Jim Serbia and his team to complete the a.n.a.lysis Milne had requested on the mill site. The picture wasn't pretty. Environmentally, the ground beneath and around the site had the signs of being a toxic dump. At a minimum, tons of hazardous soil would have to be excavated and removed. New soil would have to be trucked in.

Legally, the polluted land posed a bigger challenge. Once taking over the site, Pfizer could become liable for any environmental problems that surfaced in the future. The only way to fully protect against future claims would be to get the state to indemnify Pfizer, a highly unlikely proposition. There was no precedent for the state's a.s.suming environmental liability on behalf of a corporation.

Beyond these hurdles, the mill site presented problems that were completely outside Pfizer's ability to solve. First, the city-owned sewage-treatment plant bordered one side of the property. In addition to emitting a terrible odor that would regularly overwhelm the mill site, the plant needed upgrades and modifications to make it more environmentally safe and aesthetically appealing.

Second, a huge sc.r.a.p-metal junkyard ab.u.t.ted another border of the mill property. A terrible eyesore, the junkyard also made access to the mill site nearly impossible.

Third, the city's infrastructure around the site-from roads to utilities-was nowhere near sufficient to support a state-of-the-art, global research facility. On top of all this, the site failed to satisfy the primary immediate need for more lab s.p.a.ce. The city's infrastructure wasn't capable of handling all the effluent that would be produced in the animal laboratories. New London barely had sufficient sewage capacity for its residents as it was.

The site had one final, overarching deficiency: size. The number one criterion on Pfizer's wish list was that the land had to be big enough for future expansion. Anything under a hundred acres was too small. The mill site consisted of just twenty-four acres.

By every vital criterion at the time, the New London site failed the test. New London was the absolute worst choice for Pfizer.

The detailed a.n.a.lysis that Serbia's team provided was in stark contrast to Claire's a.s.sessment of the site. She preferred to focus on the possibilities, not the drawbacks. And she had a much grander perspective than the singular needs of a corporation. That was immediately clear to Phil Michalowski, a leading land-use design expert working as a private consultant for Pfizer. At Pfizer's request, Michalowski helped prepare some land-use concept plans for the area around the mill site. He also started meeting with Claire.

”I remember discussions with Claire,” Michalowski said. ”It starts out as a global picture. Think of the Web site Google Earth-it's a mapping program that starts with the globe and works down to New London. That's the way Claire's mind works.” He continued, ”I was trying to focus on physical land-use issues in New London. She was looking at the status of the state economy for the next hundred years and trying to use the project as a mechanism to steer resources to educational and social service in the city. Early on she was trying to make those connections. I lauded those ideas.”

The more Claire and Milne talked about Claire's vision, the more Milne began to laud her ideas too. And by helping the city, Pfizer could also benefit. The possibilities were endless. For instance, the thirty-two-acre Naval Undersea Warfare Center next door to the mill site could be acquired and redeveloped into something to complement Pfizer. With the base closed down, the navy wanted to unload the real estate. Better still, a lot of the land around the fort and the mill site could use a makeover. With Pfizer's commitment and state backing, the NLDC could a.s.semble a ma.s.sive chunk of waterfront real estate and transform this entire area into an upscale, corporate area.

”As cities go, New London is sized where a single investment of this type coupled with other downstream investments could make all the difference in the world,” Milne said. ”You could in fact at least contemplate a transforming set of investments that would do what the city badly needed, which is to build up its tax base.”

For that to happen, Claire maintained, Pfizer had to develop the mill site.

For that to happen, Milne insisted, the state would have to be a partner and commit to a sizable investment.

Claire agreed. She called the governor's office.

Weeks earlier, Governor Rowland had elevated Peter Ellef to be his chief of staff. Ellef took the call. Claire told Ellef that Pfizer was ready to consider New London. Ready to deal, Ellef scheduled a meeting for Claire and Milne with the governor.

10.

THE THINGS WE WANT.

A stack of nursing manuals under her arm, Susette arrived home and found antiques on her porch. Instantly she knew where they had come from. It had been only a few weeks since she had journeyed to Tim LeBlanc's apartment. He had a lot of antiques and a great deal of knowledge about them. They started talking on an almost-daily basis and getting together a couple of times a week. He had even volunteered to help her put in raised flower beds alongside her house. stack of nursing manuals under her arm, Susette arrived home and found antiques on her porch. Instantly she knew where they had come from. It had been only a few weeks since she had journeyed to Tim LeBlanc's apartment. He had a lot of antiques and a great deal of knowledge about them. They started talking on an almost-daily basis and getting together a couple of times a week. He had even volunteered to help her put in raised flower beds alongside her house.

As soon as she got inside, she called him to thank him for the delivery. Toward the end of the call, LeBlanc's voice took a serious tone.

”I love you, Susette,” he said.

The phrase jarred her. The words ”I love you” had not been spoken to her as a child. Her first husband had never told her that. Neither had her second husband. She didn't know how to respond.

”What the h.e.l.l is the matter with you?” she snapped.

”What?” he asked.

”You don't just walk around saying that to people you just met,” she said. ”Don't say that unless you mean it. Good-bye.”

She slammed down the phone.

Governor Rowland was eager to hear what Claire and Milne had to say about the prospects of attracting a Fortune Fortune 500 company to New London. They did not disappoint. 500 company to New London. They did not disappoint.

After sharing some brief overview of the possibilities, Claire left most of the talking to Milne. As he would have in a corporate setting, Milne got right to the point with the governor.

”We spent thirty minutes with him,” Milne recalled. ”We outlined what would be possible broadly and what would be required to make all of this attractive to anybody, including Pfizer. That included such things as accelerating renovation of the fort, which at that point was just an overgrown jumble of trees and discarded junk; the Calamari junkyard; the whole sewer-treatment center; and all of the issues a.s.sociated with permitting the site.”

The governor listened intently. Milne made clear that no company-not Pfizer nor anyone else-would take on the mill site unless the state stepped in.

Sharp and shrewd, the governor got the picture. Like Claire and Milne, he preferred to move quickly when opportunity knocked. The governor planned to visit Fort Trumbull himself. In the meantime, written proposals and schematic drawings were needed to take the discussions from a conceptual level to something more concrete.

After meeting with the governor, Milne knew that the prospect of Pfizer's going to New London was real. He and Claire talked about his role with the NLDC.

”I have to leave the board,” Milne told her. On one hand, he was trying to obtain real estate for his corporation to develop. On the other hand, he was chairing a real-estate development committee for a nonprofit board that was courting his company.

”No, you don't have to leave the board,” Claire insisted. ”You can recuse yourself from everything related to that site.”

Milne did just that. And in his Pfizer role he mapped out in more specific terms what Pfizer needed from the state in order to say yes to New London. Pfizer wanted nearby Fort Trumbull renovated and turned into an attractive state park. It wanted the city's sewage treatment upgraded and capped to contain the odor. And it wanted the sc.r.a.p-metal junkyard out of the picture entirely; the state should buy out the business or do whatever else was necessary to make it vanish.

The biggest demand came with a strong push from Claire: that money be set aside for the NLDC to a.s.semble an additional ninety acres of real estate next door to the mill site for developing a five-star hotel, state-of-the-art conference center, office s.p.a.ce, and upscale housing and shops to complement the Pfizer facility. Pfizer wanted the city to acquire the large naval base (thirty-two acres) and the properties in the residential neighborhood between it and the mill site (roughly sixty acres). The state would have to appropriate millions of dollars to the NLDC, which would in turn buy up all these properties, clearing the way for redevelopment in line with Pfizer's wishes.

If the state agreed to this approach, Pfizer could then serve as the gateway to a renaissance in New London. But without the state's willingness to help secure and redevelop the additional ninety acres, Pfizer would not come to the mill site.

”The notion that this could become a key unlocking piece already had been in discussion with the governor,” Milne later explained.

The terms and conditions left little room for misunderstanding. Claire made sure that the state understood that timing was critical. Milne didn't want a new Pfizer facility surrounded by a perpetual construction site. To avoid this, Claire insisted everyone had to work fast, coining the phrase ”Pfizer Time.”

Claire and Milne's proposal was appealing to the Rowland administration. It certainly was not what Ellef had originally asked Jay Levin to help with, but by working in concert with Pfizer and the NLDC, the Rowland administration had the potential to get much faster results. And the idea of constructing new waterfront housing on the Thames apparently appealed to Ellef personally. In a memo, Claire wrote that Ellef had asked her to save him a condo: ”Two bedrooms, two baths, ocean view.”

”His name,” Claire a.s.sured the state's commissioner of economic and community development, ”is on the list with numerous others who decided they wanted priority housing in the new New London.”

The governor pledged a strong state commitment and promised to come back with a written set of incentives that the state would be willing to provide Pfizer in exchange for its commitment to develop in New London.

Lloyd Beachy had never had aspirations of political power. The son of a Pennsylvania farmer, he joined the navy in the 1950s and became an intelligence officer specializing in naval aviation. After stints in the Pacific theater, Vietnam, and Hawaii, Beachy got a.s.signed to the Pentagon. He finished his naval career at the Sound Lab at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. In the midst of the cold war, the navy figured out that its top scientists weren't communicating with the intelligence community. Beachy served as a liaison between the two.

When he retired in 1979, Beachy and his wife, Sandy, decided to stay in New London. The small coastal city seemed like a great place to make a permanent home. They became involved in the local historical society and volunteered for all sorts of civic groups and initiatives. Their commitment to local causes didn't go unnoticed. One day Beachy's neighbor, a member of the city's Democratic Committee, asked Beachy to run for local office. The Democrats had candidates for all the city-council seats except one. Reluctantly, Beachy agreed to fill the final spot.

The Democrats never expected Beachy to win; they just appreciated his willingness to fill the ballot spot. Even Beachy didn't expect to win. But he did. His eventual reputation in the city for quiet, tireless service made him very popular.

Two years later, he was chosen to be the mayor. Days after taking the oath of office in December 1997, Beachy got a call from Claire. She congratulated him and invited him to her residence on the Connecticut College campus, saying she wanted to share hopes and dreams for New London. Beachy had never visited the president's private residence. He agreed to meet.

Sporting a gray beard and a yellow windbreaker, Beachy could easily have been mistaken for the captain of a fis.h.i.+ng vessel. When he arrived, Claire greeted him at the door and ushered him inside. He noted the nice furnis.h.i.+ngs and perfect order.

”Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked.