Description
Claire Gaudiani, the president of Connecticut College at that time, was named head of a nonprofit, the New London Development Corporation (NLDC). The NLDC was revived in order to assist the city in development planning. She persuaded Pfizer, Inc., which had an existing major facility across the Thames River in Groton, to build their proposed $300 million research facility on an abandoned linoleum factory in New London. On September 1, 1998, at the groundbreaking, Governor John Rowland announced, “Years from now, this will be a case study in how to revive a community”.