PARSIPPANY — The GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) buildings recently faced demolition after standing prominently for years.
Sold for $8,500,000 on October 6, 2017, the property at 1500 Littleton Road has a storied history. In March 2021, Parsippany Littleton, LLC proposed to the Parsippany-Troy Hills Planning Board (Application No. 20:529) to develop an age-restricted residential complex with roughly 250 multifamily units on the site.
The buyer Parsippany Littleton, LLC. office address is listed as 820 Morris Turnpike, Short Hills. (click here to view corporate formation)
The property consists of all the land together with the appurtenances thereto, being known as Block 181, Lot 19 on the Tax Map of the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills.
Also listed at the address of 820 Morris Avenue is Garden Homes. Garden Homes is owned in part or wholly by Zygi Wilf. Zygi Wilf is the Owner/Chairman of the Minnesota Vikings (click here for additional details).
Wilf joined the family business and became head of one of the company’s affiliates, Garden Commercial Properties. Wilf has grown the company from four shopping centers in Northern New Jersey to over a hundred properties, including several large malls. In addition to the commercial properties, the Garden companies also own and manage 90,000 apartment units around the country. In Parsippany, Garden Communities consists of Powdermill Heights, Knoll Gardens, Mill Run at Parsippany, Lakeview Gardens, Redstone Gardens, Ridgeview Gardens, Ridgeview Commons, Redstone Gardens, Vail Gardens, Vail Manor 55+, Mountain Way Estates and Westgate Apartments.
Garden Commercial Properties also is listed at 820 Morris Avenue. Some of the properties in that portfolio include Parsippany’s Arlington Plaza, among over a dozen other shopping centers in New Jersey. Rutgers Village, Powder Mill East Shopping Center, and Powder Mill West Shopping Centers are part of Pineview Homes, which is a subsidiary of the Wilf empire.
Originally, this land housed Spring Side, a country estate established in 1877 by brewery magnate Peter H. Ballantine. The region was popular among the elite New York and New Jersey families as summer retreats. Isabelle Ballantine, Peter’s widow, was the estate’s last inhabitant. Following her death in 1946, the estate was sold off in parts, with some becoming the Sedgefield neighborhood.
The Texas-US Chemical Company later acquired 26 acres in the 1950s, repurposing the mansion as their office. However, the mansion met its end in 1962. Its replacement, Building A, served as GSK’s primary entrance.
A notable remnant from the estate, the Carriage House, was nearing collapse by 2010. After assessing its potential, GSK transformed it into a training center in 2013. Today, it stands with a gazebo and stone wall as relics of the Ballantine estate on Littleton Road. Key historical elements, such as the “1803” barn beam and original woodwork, were preserved and incorporated into the renovated Carriage House. The once-stables now function as restrooms, maintaining their initial layout. The Carriage House’s original trusses remain exposed, highlighting the rich history of the space.
