Electric Boat Buys Pfizer Building

Electric Boat is to buy the research and development headquarters building being vacated by drug maker Pfizer in New London. The Groton shipyard says it will hire 700 new employees and eventually have 3,000 people working in the building. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

Electric Boat has been looking for space to expand its engineering and design work, and when Pfizer announced last November that it was to quit its 750,000 square foot New London headquarters, EB president John Casey says he was immediately interested.

"We now employ about 4,000 people within the engineering and design complex in Groton and they all have proven technical expertise in all facets of a submarine's life, and these very, very talented people have been essential to development of a large book of new business. Large enough, in fact, to allow us to create hundreds of new jobs to complete the work."

Now that the formal announcement has been made, the shipyard’s vice president of engineering and design, Peter Halvordson, says they’ll be moving in before Pfizer has even left the building.

“We’re bursting at the seams in Groton, so we anticipate over 300 people coming in roughly mid-July, almost in existing floors that are available to us, and then we’ll begin some renovations.”

In all, the submarine builder expects to invest $99 million in the building, and have space now to create up to 700 new jobs. Second district Representative Joe Courtney described the news as a blockbuster for the state.

"This is not a blip here today, this is not sort of a temporary upswing in terms of this decision by Electric Boat. This is a long-term commitment for a program that's going to be part of our country's naval priorities for many years to come."

The company is receiving a $15 million state grant to make the move, and with the ramp-up to two submarines a year along with redevelopment work on the new Ohio class sub, it's money that Governor Jodi Rell says is a great investment.

“EB has long-term contracts right now with the federal government for the Virginia class submarine, and even beyond that. So with money in the budget, there is a commitment from the federal government to keep the option going here. That’s what we need, and that’s what they wanted – it’s good news.”

The influx of new jobs will be a huge boost for New London, after the devastating loss of Pfizer, but it remains to be seen how much the city will benefit in terms of tax revenue – EB is buying the building at a price well below its current assessed value, and the shipbuilder will also be eligible for the same enterprise zone tax breaks afforded to the drug maker.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.