Groton Seeking State Help With Empty Pfizer Buildings

Groton town and city officials are seeking state assistance to pay for a study of available space on the Pfizer campus in Groton to determine if it can be converted to other uses.

Town Mayor Heather Bond Somers, Groton City Mayor Marian Galbraith and Town Manager Mark Oefinger met with the governor about two weeks ago and asked the state to help with an assessment of Pfizer’s buildings and grounds, town and city officials said.

Groton sent a follow up letter two days ago.

Galbraith said the request is part of a larger effort to decide how to best market facilities that are empty and retain what is currently filled.

The town and city want to organize a task force to explore alternatives, and have compiled of a list of about 15 people who could serve on the group, Somers said. The town and city are awaiting a response from the state.

, and the company said in an e-mail Wednesday that it has discussed one or more of the properties with about 24 interested parties. All of the spaces remain unfilled.

“Pfizer is looking to make decisions related to these properties by the end of this year,” the company said. It declined to say what would happen at the end of that period.

The available space includes Building 118, a sprawling campus of 750,000 square feet of primarily lab space on Eastern Point Road. The company also has 50 acres of land along the Thames River.

Bond Somers said the town is interested in whether Building 118 could be used for some another purpose, such as offices or dormitories.

“If it can’t be converted to another use, we need to know that, too,” Somers said.

On Tuesday, Pfizer representatives met with town officials at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa at a forum organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut to talk about using Pfizer space for new research start-up businesses, or incubator companies.

But Galbraith said incubators would fill a relatively small amount of the vacant space.

Building 118 could handle 900 to 1,000 employees, and Pfizer is looking for a single renter or buyer. The company does not have a listed asking price and the annual lease cost is negotiable, it has said. It has declined to publicly disclose the operating cost of the complex.

The company said it would continue to work with local and state officials.

“Pfizer values greatly its relationship with the community,” the company said in its e-mail. “To that end, the company has been working very closely with state and local entities to find suitable reuse for these buildings. Pfizer looks forward to continuing that open dialogue.”