Distinctive Living JV Breaks Ground on $200M Senior Housing Conversion
This adaptive reuse project is set to redevelop a former corporate campus.
The joint venture of Distinctive Living Development, Melillo Equities and PointsFive will officially break ground today on CopperWood Senior Living, a roughly $200 million luxury senior housing project in Peapack, N.J.
The adaptive reuse endeavor will redevelop the former Pfizer/Beneficial Finance corporate campus into a 214-unit property.
Partners in the senior housing conversion include Davis Construction, Arc Construction and Meyer Design. Distinctive Living will operate the community that will include 118 independent living, 66 assisted living and 30 memory care units.
A campus with a history
Bob Hillier designed the postmodern 70-acre campus in 1979. The 10-building complex initially served as the headquarters of Beneficial Corp., then passed to Pharmacia & Upjohn and subsequently to Pfizer, which closed activity at the campus two years ago. The property has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.
PointsFive and Melillo acquired the complex in 2024 and the Peapack-Gladstone Land Use Board approved its redevelopment in 2025. This August, the partners obtained $84.7 million in bond financing from Ziegler for the project’s assisted living and memory care components.
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Located at 400 Essex Blvd., the property is close to Route 206, some 12 miles from Lyons Medical Center. Upon the completion of its redevelopment, it will include more than 50 distinctive floorplans, with studio and one- to three-bedroom apartments ranging from 350 to 1,760 square feet.
Amenities will feature a fitness center with pool, spa and sauna, as well as a sports bar, a bistro bar and outdoor tennis and pickleball courts. The property will also include underground parking, EV charging stations and an arts venue named Wellington Hall Performing Arts Center.
The existing 10-megawatt solar field, courtyards, clocktower, garden paths, circular drive and gatehouse will remain in place. Moreover, a nature preserve with walking trails, as well as the on-site restaurant CopperWood Chophouse, will be open to the general public.
Senior housing development concentrated on coasts
As of the third quarter of this year, senior housing saw construction dropping 1 percent, with only 16,159 units under development, the latest NIC Map data revealed. Inventory growth remained at historical lows, recording 0.4 percent year-over-year.
Most new developments are concentrated on the coasts, the same report shows. Recent examples include the 221-unit Winsberg at Green Cay in Boynton Beach, Fla., and New York City Housing Authority’s 229-unit Sol on Park in New York City. Deliveries are expected in 2028 and 2029, respectively.
