Turns out the university was already considering whether it should acquire the site. All 174 acres. (Or 175, or 177 depending on whom you believe.) And, of course, we now know the university is close to sealing a deal to purchase the whole site for $108 million.

Don't kid yourself: The university had a vested interest in the future of that property, which is nestled right next to U-M's North Campus. If Pfizer had opted to raze the 30 buildings to save on its tax bill, U-M would've been devastated.

"There's a lot of resources there. There's some tremendously good laboratory space. We didn't want that to be taken down," U-M's Stephen Forrest told me. "You don't want a resource like that to be razed."

Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce President Jesse Bernstein talks a
Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce President Jesse Bernstein talks about the announcement's impact on the business community.

The mayor said he learned of the deal only recently, and didn’t know if the move of David Canter from head of the Pfizer Ann Arbor campus to director of health care of U-M’s nonprofit William Davidson Institute had anything to do with the sale.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp., the Greater Wayne Economic Development Corp. and a private foundation are pooling $3.5 million to buy the former Esperion Therapeutics headquarters building in Plymouth Township from Pfizer Inc., the groups announc

The revelation that a major real estate management firm is considering acquiring Ann Arbor's Pfizer campus put a spotlight on the role the University of Michigan is playing behind the scenes in the marketing process.

Forest City's tour of the Pfizer site must be pretty big news in Ann Arbor — a local business commentator sorts through the rumors to pick a favorite. (an anti-Atlantic Yards site picks up local news)

SPARK is distributing Pfizer-donated laboratory consumables. Here are instructions for how to get supplies.

While initial reports suggested that Pfizer’s departure would remove over two thousand jobs from the area, recent statistics say that total will be much lower. For Google, the company is in the early stages of the hiring process.

The Staubach Company has been retained as an exclusive advisor by Pfizer Inc to market the disposition of the former Pfizer Life Science Campus located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The campus comprises 27 buildings totaling over 2 million square feet containin

The company today confirmed that as many as 34,000 of its employees may be at risk of identity theft after a former employee illegally accessed and download copies of confidential information from a Pfizer computer system without the company's knowledge.

This much we know about TransPharm Preclinical Solutions: A former employee of Pfizer wants to invest in the ballpark of $1 million to open the biotech business in Napoleon. He and economic-development officials say it has strong prospects. What we don't

A growing pharmaceutical services firm is opening a new office in Ann Arbor in mid-September, planning to hire at least 30 laid-off Pfizer workers as it seeks clients who launch start-ups.

More than $8 million in funding that state officials had pledged to retain laid-off Pfizer Inc. workers has fallen victim to the ongoing budget mess in Lansing.

The credit union will roll out a new small business service unit in October. It will offer a full line to business services such as lending and deposit accounts. This will help former Pfizer employees starting their own companies, Wasczenski said.

Usually there's a lot of work in Ann Arbor, but, maybe because of Pfizer or maybe because of the overall economy, there's a lot of contractors looking to keep their best people working.

Ann Arbor SPARK, an economic development organization at the forefront of the community's Pfizer action teams, is working to help 29 groups of Pfizer employees start their own companies. It has applied for some of the $12 million in state money earmarked

Wayne State University and its TechTown research and technology park will host a networking event at the Ann Arbor offices of Pfizer Inc. on June 14.

The flip side of the Pfizer shutdown in Ann Arbor is a booming real estate market in Eastern Connecticut.

Missy Caulk writes on the impact of Pfizer leaving on Ann Arbor home prices - and how Pfizer's $100k guarantee is driving them down

Severance packages for those who leave the company include 13 weeks pay minimum, plus another three weeks for each year of service. Laid-off employees also have access to Pfizer job search tools, counseling and internal job postings for 60 days after thei

"The top management in Pfizer research and development has said to me on a number of occasions: 'Our job here is to discover drugs, not to spin them off,'" Longman said.

“What is paid to Groton in taxes will come out of some other account, and we are concerned this reduction will hurt this community,” Hoover said, noting that Pfizer has already cut jobs and closed plants. “Pfizer remains committed to being an active

Some local law firms are offering free company startup services to downsized Pfizerites, and I have decided to do this as well. Arborlaw will provide free incorporation or LLC formation for qualifying former employees of Pfizer who become entrepreneurs an

Canter told a group at an Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce event that Pfizer is projecting about half of Ann Arbor workers would be gone by September. The company expects to have about 500 people working at the Ann Arbor facility by the end of the year.

Ron Suarez, Ann Arbor City Council hosts a wiki on Ann Arbor's reaction to Pfizer closing down the Ann Arbor plant.

George Fulton, a University of Michigan economist, discusses the Michigan economy in the wake of the Pfizer closing.

Showing activity has picked up significantly in the Eastern CT area, as plenty of relocating Pfizer families begin their house hunting journey and join those looking at the busiest home buying season of the year.

Angelina has found a possible house for her family to buy. The owners moved to Ann Arbor because of Pfizer and now will be moving out because of Pfizer.

Some council members were surprised that discussions had progressed so far and that city planners were involved in the work.

The University of Michigan is setting aside $3 million to attract and hire workers from a Pfizer Inc. research facility in Ann Arbor that is being closed.

This should be one of our lessons learned: No matter how good the jobs, or interested and committed the local leaders of big business divisions are, they don't have control over whether a company stays in the area or not.

From being out looking at homes on the market it is very clear that values have dropped. (Prices have dropped.)

Two quick examples:
1. ~1,000 sqft ranch in nice shape on the West side for under $175K with a full basement and a 2 car garage. Seller bou

It is really not that difficult of a concept to understand, many corporations do offer this to highly sought after employees.The package Pfizer is offering is to reimburse the employee up to 100K, if they aren't able to sell their home for what they paid.

Pfizer will pay an employee up to $100,000 to offset a loss if his or her home sells for below its value, according to local spokesman Rick Chambers - a perk that will surely ease the fear of workers who want to transfer, but worry about selling their hom

University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, Ann Arbor SPARK CEO Michael Finney and MichBio executive director Stephen Rapundalo will comprise the panel for Ann Arbor Business Review's first Michigan Leaders Speak event

Pfired by Pfizer / Gone, but not for Groton

post-Pfired recruiting

interview with Mike Finney of SPARK re the Pfizer shutdown in Ann Arbor

long quote from peter rost includes absurd high cost of COBRA (been there done that paid the premiums ouch)

pfizer whistleblower pharmablogger, lots of t-shirts for sale "question authority"

apparently pfizer sent cafepress a cease and desist letter re the Pfired t-shirts, and Cafepress stood their ground. collecting info

project management group in ann arbor meeting 2/19/2007 6:00 PM

ann arbor news reporter discovers that pfizer employees don't speak to the media

t-shirts available locally and on cafepress re the pfizer layoffs

cafe press store with 'pfired' logowear for ex-Pfizer employees. Pfizer sent CafePress a cease and desist letter, that hasnt' stopped them.

read especially the comments about all of the smaller pharma locations scattered around the country.

job/resume board for michigan pharma, it looks like.

article by Sofia

shutting down the whole facility by end of 2008