10 years later, here’s what happened to the land seized and sold to developers in Kelo v New London

TheBlaze Books ^ | 2015-06-23 | Benjamin Weingarten

[fredericbastiat1]

As of early 2015, almost ten years after the Supreme Court upheld the Kelo condemnations, the properties that were the focus of an epic legal battle remain empty and undeveloped. Several plans to redevelop these lots have fallen through. The only creatures making regular use of them in the intervening years have been a colony of feral cats.

These failures were not simply caused by adverse publicity resulting from the public backlash against the Supreme Court ruling or by the recession and financial crisis that began in 2008. As a 2005 New York Times article noted, the failure was a result of “contract disputes and financial uncertainty” and the unwillingness of investors to commit to a flawed project. As early as 2002, Pfizer had begun to lose interest in utilizing the new facilities expected to be built in the development area. In 2009, the firm announced plans to close down its New London facility and began to transfer the employees working there elsewhere. With Pfizer’s departure, the city lost 1,400 jobs that state officials had attracted to the area by committing to redevelop Fort Trumbull in a way that suited the firms’s needs.

The city has managed to successfully redevelop the portion of the Fort Trumbull land that was previously part of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center closed in 1995. It is now a leased research and development center. But that property already belonged to the city after the center had closed, and there was no need to use eminent domain to redevelop it.

[mulligan]

Government (the public sector) is dominated by corruption. And slowly but surely corruption is dominating the private sector. As a result America is going down the road to destruction.

[stylin19a]

yikes...all that lost tax revenue..somebody will have to pay

[immadashell]

The only creatures making regular use of them in the intervening years have been a colony of feral cats.

A fairly useful Unintended Consequence which controls the rats. Now if we could get a colony to move to Capital Hill.

[TBP]

A decision so obviously bad that even many liberals opposed it. Kirsten Powers and Alan Colmes are two who come to mind.

But guess who supported it and supports it to this day? Everyone’s favorite crony capitalist, Donald Trump.