There must be bitter irony circulating in the air over New London, Ct., where Pfizer plans to close its eight-year-old, $300 million R&D facility that employs 1,400 people. Those jobs will be transferred to nearby Groton as part of a massive downsizing announced yesterday that involves shuttering six R&D sites and eliminating an undisclosed number of jobs (see here).

It was only a decade ago, though, that Pfizer envisioned grand things for New London - a sparkling, state-of-the-art facility that would help transform a deserted downtown replete with rundown homes and a smelly sewage plant into a model company town and add up to 2,000 jobs. But to build a huge new research complex near the Fort Trumbull section required evicting many long-time residents.

The plan ultimately led to a Supreme Court ruling three years ago on eminent domain that supported the city, where Pfizer created its R&D mecca. Getting to that point, however, involved numerous lawsuits and uprooting numerous lives (background here). And now, just eight years after the bitter squabble finally ended, New London will be searching for something to replace Pfizer and a downtown that will again be battling desertion (see here).