diff --git a/packages/cli/generators/model/index.js b/packages/cli/generators/model/index.js
index db2f5e1a291a..6619910119e1 100644
--- a/packages/cli/generators/model/index.js
+++ b/packages/cli/generators/model/index.js
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ const utils = require('../../lib/utils');
 const chalk = require('chalk');
 const path = require('path');
 
+const {createPropertyTemplateData} = require('./property-definition');
+
 const PROMPT_BASE_MODEL_CLASS = 'Please select the model base class';
 const ERROR_NO_MODELS_FOUND = 'Model was not found in';
 
@@ -476,56 +478,11 @@ module.exports = class ModelGenerator extends ArtifactGenerator {
       this.artifactInfo.modelBaseClass,
     );
 
-    // Set up types for Templating
-    const TS_TYPES = ['string', 'number', 'object', 'boolean', 'any'];
-    const NON_TS_TYPES = ['geopoint', 'date'];
-    Object.values(this.artifactInfo.properties).forEach(val => {
-      // Default tsType is the type property
-      val.tsType = val.type;
-
-      // Override tsType based on certain type values
-      if (val.type === 'array') {
-        if (TS_TYPES.includes(val.itemType)) {
-          val.tsType = `${val.itemType}[]`;
-        } else if (val.type === 'buffer') {
-          val.tsType = 'Buffer[]';
-        } else {
-          val.tsType = 'string[]';
-        }
-      } else if (val.type === 'buffer') {
-        val.tsType = 'Buffer';
-      }
-
-      if (NON_TS_TYPES.includes(val.tsType)) {
-        val.tsType = 'string';
-      }
-
-      if (
-        val.defaultValue &&
-        NON_TS_TYPES.concat(['string', 'any']).includes(val.type)
-      ) {
-        val.defaultValue = `'${val.defaultValue}'`;
-      }
-
-      // Convert Type to include '' for template
-      val.type = `'${val.type}'`;
-      if (val.itemType) {
-        val.itemType = `'${val.itemType}'`;
-      }
-
-      // If required is false, we can delete it as that's the default assumption
-      // for this field if not present. This helps to avoid polluting the
-      // decorator with redundant properties.
-      if (!val.required) {
-        delete val.required;
-      }
-
-      // We only care about marking the `id` field as `id` and not fields that
-      // are not the id so if this is false we delete it similar to `required`.
-      if (!val.id) {
-        delete val.id;
-      }
-    });
+    const propDefs = this.artifactInfo.properties;
+    this.artifactInfo.properties = {};
+    for (const key in propDefs) {
+      this.artifactInfo.properties = createPropertyTemplateData(propDefs[key]);
+    }
 
     if (this.artifactInfo.modelSettings) {
       this.artifactInfo.modelSettings = utils.stringifyModelSettings(
diff --git a/packages/cli/generators/model/property-definition.js b/packages/cli/generators/model/property-definition.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..971caee28100
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/generators/model/property-definition.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2018,2019. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/cli
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+'use strict';
+
+const TS_TYPES = ['string', 'number', 'object', 'boolean', 'any'];
+const NON_TS_TYPES = ['geopoint', 'date'];
+const BUILTIN_TYPES = [...TS_TYPES, ...NON_TS_TYPES];
+
+module.exports = {
+  createPropertyTemplateData,
+  BUILTIN_TYPES,
+};
+
+/**
+ * Convert property definition in LB4 style to data needed by model template
+ * @param {object} val The property definition
+ * @returns {object} Data for model-property template
+ */
+function createPropertyTemplateData(val) {
+  // shallow clone the object - don't modify original data!
+  val = {...val};
+
+  // Default tsType is the type property
+  val.tsType = val.type;
+
+  // Override tsType based on certain type values
+  if (val.type === 'array') {
+    if (TS_TYPES.includes(val.itemType)) {
+      val.tsType = `${val.itemType}[]`;
+    } else if (val.type === 'buffer') {
+      val.tsType = 'Buffer[]';
+    } else {
+      val.tsType = 'string[]';
+    }
+  } else if (val.type === 'buffer') {
+    val.tsType = 'Buffer';
+  }
+
+  if (NON_TS_TYPES.includes(val.tsType)) {
+    val.tsType = 'string';
+  }
+
+  if (
+    val.defaultValue &&
+    NON_TS_TYPES.concat(['string', 'any']).includes(val.type)
+  ) {
+    val.defaultValue = `'${val.defaultValue}'`;
+  }
+
+  // Convert Type to include '' for template
+  val.type = `'${val.type}'`;
+  if (val.itemType) {
+    val.itemType = `'${val.itemType}'`;
+  }
+
+  // If required is false, we can delete it as that's the default assumption
+  // for this field if not present. This helps to avoid polluting the
+  // decorator with redundant properties.
+  if (!val.required) {
+    delete val.required;
+  }
+
+  // We only care about marking the `id` field as `id` and not fields that
+  // are not the id so if this is false we delete it similar to `required`.
+  if (!val.id) {
+    delete val.id;
+  }
+
+  return val;
+}