Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy has announced that Alexion, a large biotech company currently based in Cheshire, Connecticut, will relocate its global headquarters to New Haven. Alexion is set to receive up to $51 million in incentives through Governor Malloy’s “First Five” program, which helped facilitate the move, but the company was also attracted to New Haven by the city’s state-of-the-art facilities, biomedical economy, and burgeoning urban core. In fact, Alexion CEO Leonard Bell touted “the combination of the tremendous growth and vibrancy of New Haven together with the financial commitment and wherewithal from the state” as reasons behind his business’ decision. Alexion’s relocation, as the New Haven Independent points out, represents a homecoming for the business. The company used to be based in New Haven’s Science Park, but moved out to Cheshire in 2000.

Since its initial departure, much has changed in New Haven. The city has become a leader in progressive transportation policy—adopting a nationally renowned complete streets design manual—and the city has shown a willingness to embrace smarter land use decisions that foster livable communities, which attract the professional talent companies like Alexion need to remain competitive.

As a case in point, Alexion will anchor 100 College Street, the first building in New Haven’s Downtown Crossing redevelopment project, a highway removal effort that moved forward last week when two aldermanic committees approved zoning changes and a developer agreement.

While the city’s development agreement for the project, along with its zoning proposal, came under fire from some local advocates and elected officials during last week’s meeting at City Hall for not being innovative enough, the project is a step towards reconnecting New Haven’s downtown and linking Union Station into the city’s urban fabric.

Yet community concerns about sidewalk width and walkability along the Route 34 corridor remain, and rightfully so.

Though the city will be implementing numerous pedestrian safety improvements with the project, including pedestrian refuge islands at wide intersections, raised intersections, and separated cycle tracks, local advocates, led by the New Haven Safe Streets Coalition, have created a “Petition for a Walkable 100 College Street Development,” which calls on the city and developer to bolster these efforts with additional pedestrian safety measures, including wider sidewalks in certain locations.

Other companies are likely to follow in Alexion’s footsteps if projects like Downtown Crossing continue to move forward and are made even more walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented.