PEAPACK-GLADSTONE – A proposal to redevelop the former 148-acre Pfizer office campus on Route 206 into a senior housing community received approval from the Land Use Board in a unanimous vote after a second public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
The project calls for 172 age-restricted apartments and townhouses, a 214-unit assisted living facility, 25 affordable units, a 15-unit group home and an extended-stay hotel with 11 suites.
The applicant, 100 Route 206 PG, LLC, which is controlled by Far Hills-based Melillo Equities, acquired the property this year after the borough adopted a redevelopment ordinance to permit senior housing for ages 55 and up, senior citizen-assisted living and continuing care communities, and an extended-stay hotel.
“Obviously, we’re very excited,” Anthony Melillo, the firm’s managing partner and a borough resident, said just after the meeting. “The borough has been looking to address an immediate need, and they’ve done it beautifully.”
The site will also become a lynchpin of the borough trails system, connecting Natirar and Komline parks to the Lackawana Avenue corridor, while putting more than 50 acres into preservation, he said.
As for the development timeline, “we’re hoping to put shovels in the ground in mid-2026,” Melillo said. The assisted living and continuing care communities require a Certificate of Need from the state Department of Health, so their start is targeted for the fall of 2026, he said.
The Pfizer tract totals 148 acres, including a 71-acre office campus with 10 buildings totaling 550,000 square feet and two, two-story parking garages. The campus was vacated in February 2024 after the pharmaceutical giant moved its 800 employees to New York and Parsippany.
The Borough Council adopted a redevelopment ordinance in September 2024, with a key goal of getting credits toward its state-mandated affordable housing obligation.
The office campus, which features a distinct clock tower, was opened by Beneficial Management in August 1982. In September 1998, two months after Beneficial merged with Household International, the complex was sold to Pharmacia & Upjohn, a pharmaceutical company.
Pfizer acquired Pharmacia in July 2002. It initially owned the land and leased the buildings, then purchased the buildings from an investment group in October 2009. In 2016, Pfizer had solar panels installed on 27.7 acres just north of its campus.
The proposed senior housing project largely conformed to the parameters laid out in the redevelopment ordinance.
Multiple Components
Opening testimony was presented to the board on Wednesday, Aug. 20, by project engineer Ron Kennedy and architect Stuart Johnson.
The 172 for-sale senior apartments and townhouses would be built mostly outside the campus “ring road.”
The two garages would be replaced with a four-story, multi-family building with 36 units, and a three-story, multi-family building with 27 units. Constructed nearby would be three, three-story multi-family buildings with 27 units apiece; and clusters of 19 townhouses and nine townhouses.
Eight of the existing ten buildings inside the ring road would be repurposed for the 214-unit assisted living facility.
The facility would include 119 units for independent living, 65 units for acute care or assisted living, and 30 units for memory care. Ten percent of the facility units would be set aside for affordable housing.
Among the two other buildings within the ring road, an existing three-story building would be repurposed to create 25 affordable units and one residential 15-bedroom group home that would be 100% affordable.
The other building would be repurposed as an extended-stay hotel with six one-bedroom and five two-bedroom suites.
‘Kudos’
At the Sept. 4 hearing, a project architect, Dan King, said the buildings’ brick exterior would be largely the same, as would the roofs.
“What you’re seeing today is pretty much what you’re going to see tomorrow except for a few more windows,” he told the board.
King said one of the buildings in the assisted living facility would be “the heart of the campus,” with commercial eating space, a pool, a fitness center and likely a hair salon, yoga studio and juice bar.
He said 12,500 square feet has been set aside for commercial uses that could also include a pharmacy, flower shop or gift shop.
No medical facilities will be on site. Borough Planner John Szabo suggested that the operator contract with a medical provider to ensure the response burden does not fall to local volunteers.
Gary Dean, a traffic consultant hired by the applicant, called the project “a unique opportunity” to reduce traffic, saying the traffic would be only 25 to 30 percent of the peak generated by Pfizer.
There would be 150 peak hour trips as opposed to 550 previously, he said.
In terms of parking, 525 spaces are required but more than 850 will remain among those already in place, Dean said.
Kennedy was then recalled to address the zoning relief sought.
Among the variances was a request to allow 214 units in the assisted living facility as a opposed to the maximum 195. Kennedy argued that with the extended-stay hotel included, the maximum was 230 units versus a proposal for 225.
Other variances included requests to allow a new building to have four stories instead of three; and to allow excessive disturbance of steep slopes. Kennedy said the deviations would have no visual impact or were pre-existing.
Szabo spoke highly of the project, saying it “allows different options for seniors that don’t exist now.”
The only member of the public to address the board was John Kappler of Holland Avenue, a member of the Environmental Commission, who also offered praise.
“I’ve never seen such a good project,” he said. “Kudos – you did a fantastic job.”