Tuesday, June 23, 2015, marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in the landmark property rights case, Kelo v. City of New London.

The dispute pitted the city and its private, nonprofit New London Development Corporation against seven property owners who did not want to sell their combined 15 commercial and residential properties on the long-neglected, 90-acre Fort Trumbull peninsula. The neighborhood, adjacent to where Pfizer Inc. had announced in 1998 that it would build a $300 million global research headquarters, was targeted for redevelopment in 2000 after the state agreed to funnel more than $70 million into the area, where it was also building a $25 million state park.

The high court ruled in the city's favor, agreeing that private property can be taken for economic development projects that include substantial and significant public benefits and public improvements, as the city spelled out in its Fort Trumbull Municipal Development Plan.