The end of May is upon us, and the news from New London is that Corcoran-Jamison, the city-selected redeveloper of the property that was the focal point of the Kelo v. City of New London controversy, has not been able to obtain financing for the construction of the upscale condos and commercial facilities it was hoping to build on the land taken from Suzette Kelo and her neighbors. As things stand, NLDC, the city’s nonprofit corporation estabnlished to manage the Fort Trumbull redevelopment project, is free to declare Corcoran-Jamison in default, and seek another redeveloper. However, given the currently prevailaing grim situation in the land devlopment business, it is unlikely that another redeveloper will rush in to take Corcoran-Jamison’s place.
And so, as we have noted earlier, some $70 to $80 million in public funds has been squandered on this misbegotten project, the Supreme Court mangled the pertinent law and has brought a firestorm of angry protest upon its head, that has damaged the standing of the judicialry with the people to an incalculable extent. Now it turns out that it was all for nothing. Your tax money at work.
For the a dispatch from New London as reported by The Day, the local newspaper, go to http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=d167416c-887c-42de-b7c9-6da1a67d5a6f
Update. For a full story on the misadventures of the Fort Trumbull project see BizzyBlog.com, the post dated June 3, 2008.