UPDATED: Pfizer Says No Decision Has Been Made About Groton Buildings

Pfizer said Wednesday morning that all buildings on the Groton site are occupied and no decision has been made regarding their future.

"Additionally, as we announced in February, our Groton facility remains our largest (research and development) campus and a center of great importance to the company moving forward," said a statement by Anne Wilson, of Pfizer Media Relations. "The Groton campus will serve as a center of scientific and technical excellence for all of our other research facilities around the globe."

Pfizer posted the statement to this article, and Wilson said she would have no further comment. On Tuesday night, Peter Pappas, the chairman of Groton’s Economic Development Commission said that the company will begin tearing down manufacturing buildings in Groton.

Pappas made the comments during a Groton Town Council meeting, as he was urging councilors to support extending utilities to the Flanders Road Industrial area. He said that if councilors thought this year’s budget deliberations were difficult, next year would be worse.

Pappas said Wednesday he was quoted accurately but got carried away and did not make clear that he was speaking hypothetically.

“What I was trying to establish with the town council is that Groton is top heavy in its taxpayers and its employers,” he said.  “Its three biggest, Pfizer, Electric Boat and the sub base are terrific neighbors and great citizens, but like anything else, they are subject to their own cycles.

“We had layoffs at EB years ago, we had layoffs at Pfizer more recently and a couple of years ago, the federal government was thinking of shutting off the sub base entirely. So what I was trying to express is, there are ups and downs. And I want to stress that there have been positive things, but whenever there is anything negative, we kind of wish we had diversified.”

Pappas said he hopes a dialogue can be opened with Pfizer.

Pfizer is the largest taxpayer in Groton, and owned $597.3 million of taxable assessed value in 2010, accounting for 14.5 percent of the “grand list”, or the tax base in town. The second largest taxpayer, Electric Boat, Corp., had $188.4 million of assessed taxable property in 2010.

Carlton Smith, zoning and building official for the City of Groton, said Wednesday the company has not filed any demolition permits with his office. Smith said a large commercial building might also have to go before the planning and zoning commission.

Pfizer announced in February it would cut up to 1,100 jobs within the next two years – 25 percent of its local workforce - in an effort to save costs and streamline operations.

The company is the third largest employer in Groton, after the Naval Submarine Base and Electric Boat.