PEAPACK-GLADSTONE – The massive Pfizer Inc. pharmaceutical office campus on Route 206 could be redeveloped as a senior housing development under conceptual plans presented to the borough.
In a first step toward allowing the change, the township Land Use Board voted unanimously Wednesday, March 6, to approve a draft amendment to the borough master plan. The board planned to formally approve the amendment on Wednesday, April 3, but then put off the vote until its next meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, which will be held virtually via Zoom.
An approval would clear the way to begin work on a proposal to rezone the site.
Pfizer revealed in late October that it planned to vacate its 71-acre campus by February 2024. The drug company, which had about 800 employees in the borough, said most would be reassigned to its New York headquarters at 66 Hudson Yards, with a smaller portion transitioning to its Parsippany site.
According to a report that Borough Planner John Szabo prepared in conjunction with the master plan amendment study, the Pfizer tract totals 148 acres, including the 71-acre office campus. The campus is developed with 10 buildings totaling 155,000 square feet and two, two-story parking garages., the report said. An adjacent area includes an extensive solar array designed to provide power to the campus, it said.
A proposal to repurpose the campus into a senior housing development using existing campus buildings and infrastructure was presented to the borough by Melillo Equities, a Far Hills-based private equity firm, the report said.
It said the redevelopment offers the following components:
- Potentially 200-plus units of age 55 and up senior housing including a set-aside for affordable housing units;
- Ninety-five assisted living units including 10 affordable units or, as an alternative, a 100,000-sqaure-foot extended stay hotel;
- Demolition of the two parking structures;
- Self-storage as an amenity for the residential development;
- Dedication of open space and pubic trails within the development connecting to the borough’s trail system;
- Retaining the existing 63-acre solar farm to continue to provide electricity to the campus.
Although the campus is currently in the Office, Research and Laboratory (ORL) Zone, Szabo’s report cast doubt on the zoning viability, saying the “likelihood of another pharmaceutical company taking over the present facility is not likely. “Given the soft office market and high vacancy rates, the repurposing of the campus to an office complex is not realistic,” it added. “In fact, many of the state’s empty office spaces are being developed for residential use.”
The report also advised against rezoning for mixed retail and residential use in light of the borough’s effort to redevelop it as a mixed-use center. “A competing mixed-use center will likely cannibalize and otherwise detract from the borough’s efforts to revitalize the borough’s downtown,” it said.
“Also,” it added, “the borough’s master plan is not seeking to promote retail use along the Route 206 corridor.”
The report noted that currently, the only dedicated senior housing within the borough is operated by St. Luke’s Church which provides nine affordable senior units.
In terms of demographic impact, 215 housing units and 95 assisted living units would add 353 on-site residents, the report said. With the borough having a 2020 U.S. Census population of 2,582, the project would raise the population by 13.7 percent, it said.
But it would add no school-age children, it noted.
The project would also generate about 170 full- and part-time extended stay employees or 57 assisted living employees depending upon what option for development is pursued, it said.
Tax Impact
In terms of fiscal impacts, Pfizer paid $1.529 million in property taxes in 2022 while its property was assessed at $83.235 million, according to the report. After Pfizer’s pending departure was disclosed, Mayor Mark Corigliano issued a statement that referred to the drug maker as “the borough’s largest taxpayer.”
The prospective builder of the senior housing project estimates the development would have an assessed value of $150 million, which would generate about $2.76 million in annual tax revenue, the Szabo report said.
The project “will result in an overall positive fiscal impact to the community,” it said. “The analysis indicates that total tax revenues generated by the project will exceed projected costs.”
The Pfizer office complex, located on the east side of Route 206 and north of Holland Avenue, was built for Beneficial Management more than 40 years ago. The formal groundbreaking in August 1979 was attended by Gov. Brendan Byrne, and the formal dedication of the $90 million complex in August 1982 was attended by former President Gerald Ford.
In July 1998, Beneficial merged with Household International. Just two months later, the complex was sold to Pharmacia & Upjohn (P&U), a pharmaceutical company.
In April 2002, Pharmacia said it would relocate to the former AT&T campus in Basking Ridge, which it had just purchased. But just three months later, Pfizer announced its acquisition of Pharmacia, putting the move on hold.
Pfizer, which completed the deal in April 2003, kept the Peapack site and sold the former AT&T complex to Verizon. There was a brief scare that Pfizer would leave Peapack after it purchased Madison-based Wyeth in October 2009. But Pfizer said it would buy the Peapack facility, which it leased at the time, keep the Madison site and close an office in nearby Bridgewater.
In June 2015, the Land Use Board approved a proposal to erect 27,195 solar panels covering 27.7 acres of a 63.1-acre parcel owned by Pfizer next to its office campus.
– W. Jacob Perry