The Glass House
3 Somerset Lane, Edgewater, NJ 07020 · Edgewater Harbor, Edgewater, New Jersey
The Glass House is a six-story condominium of 107 residences, including 15 riverfront townhomes, on the Hudson River at Edgewater Harbor. Designed by Lessard Design for developer National Resources and completed in 2018, it is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass and deep terraces aimed at the Manhattan skyline.
At a glance
- Type
- Condominium (flats plus 15 riverfront townhomes)
- Built
- Completed 2018 (sales launched 2017)
- Height
- 6 stories
- Residences
- 107
- Architect
- Lessard Design
- Developer
- National Resources
- Service
- Concierge, with ferry shuttle and express bus service to Manhattan advertised by the sponsor
- Amenities
- Manhattan-facing outdoor pool with cabanas, rooftop deck, fitness center with yoga room, media room, children's playroom, library, lounge with fireplace, dog run, garage parking
- Pets
- Allowed
The glass finale of a former Unilever campus
The Glass House stands on land that was once Unilever's world research and development headquarters, a riverfront campus at 45 River Road near Edgewater's southern border with North Bergen. Developer National Resources began planning its redevelopment in the mid-2000s as Edgewater Harbor, a mixed-use neighborhood built around a new traditional Main Street running from River Road down to the Hudson. The borough moved into a new Borough Hall at the front of the site in June 2011, and over the following years the developer added about 100,000 square feet of shops, a Courtyard by Marriott, a restored pier, and seven residential buildings, among them The View (2014), The Oyster (2016), and The Pearl (2016). The Glass House was the last building of the master plan.
Lessard Design organized the building around one idea, transparency. The facade is fully glazed, with oversized Marvin windows rising as high as 12 feet, and an eight-foot-deep terrace with glass railings wraps the entire perimeter so every residence has outdoor space facing the river or skyline. Sponsor marketing put that outdoor space at as much as a third of a home's total area. Along the riverwalk, 15 townhomes have 12-foot ceilings and their own balconies and terraces. Interiors came with Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Bosch appliances, Caesarstone counters, Kohler fixtures, and Nest smart thermostats. The project won a Silver award in the 2019 Best in American Living Awards for built-for-sale multifamily of four to seven stories, with judges singling out its glass and views.
MJ Group of Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty marketed the condominium from its 2017 launch. About 70 percent of the residences had sold by September 2018, when the north wing was ready for occupancy, and the last sponsor units closed in early 2023 at prices from about $650,000 to $2 million. Today the building trades as a resale condo, with one-bedrooms of roughly 950 to 1,000 square feet and corner three-bedrooms of about 1,960 square feet.
Josh's view of The Glass House
What you won't find on a listing portal, in Josh's own words.
Who it suits
Buyers who want the best of North Jersey with extremely close proximity to Manhattan.
Buying here
A free shuttle from Main Street, just outside Edgewater Harbor, connects to the NY Waterway ferry, providing an incredibly close commute to New York City.
The best lines
Any apartment with river views that face the New York City skyline is a great unit, in my opinion.
Mistakes buyers make
Edgewater is a little more transient of a community, but it is a great place to live and has a very European feel.
What a listing won't tell you
The views of Manhattan are sometimes better than actually living in Manhattan!
Inside The Glass House
The Glass House on the Hudson shore, seen from the cliffs above River Road.
Living at The Glass House
The building sits at the river end of Edgewater Harbor, a short walk from the development's Main Street, where Borough Hall, a CVS, and a Courtyard by Marriott face River Road. Edgewater is a small Bergen County borough strung along the Hudson below the Palisades, so daily errands mostly run up and down River Road. The trade-off for the quieter south end is the commute: the Edgewater Ferry Landing is about two miles north, so most ferry riders use the borough's free weekday shuttle, which starts at Main Street and River Road.
- Commute: free borough shuttle from Main Street and River Road (about 0.2 mile away) timed to weekday ferries at Edgewater Ferry Landing, 989 River Road (about 2.2 miles north, roughly 2.4 miles on foot), where NY Waterway runs commuter-hour boats to Midtown/West 39th Street; NJ Transit 158 buses on River Road to the Port Authority Bus Terminal; Port Imperial ferry terminal in Weehawken about 2 miles south
- Parks and waterfront: the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs along the building's river edge, and Edgewater Harbor's riverwalk park includes the development's restored pier
- Schools: Edgewater Public Schools serve pre-K through sixth grade at George Washington School (pre-K to 2, 801 Undercliff Avenue) and Eleanor Van Gelder School (grades 3 to 6, 251 Undercliff Avenue, about 1.6 miles north); grades 7 to 12 attend Leonia Middle School and Leonia High School
- Shopping: Edgewater Harbor's own retail at Main Street and River Road (about 0.2 mile), City Place (about 0.4 mile north), Edgewater Commons (about 0.9 mile), and Mitsuwa Marketplace (about 1.2 miles)
Run the numbers
Sources: StreetEasy, The Glasshouse at 3 Somerset Lane · Lessard Design, The Glass House · Best in American Living Awards, 2019 Silver, Glass House · Jersey Digs, 'MJ Group Close Final Residences at the Luxurious Glass House in the Heart of Edgewater' (March 1, 2023) · Jersey Digs, 'Get $10,000 Toward Closing Costs When You Attend This First-Time Homeowners' Event at Glass House' (September 25, 2018) · MJ Group Real Estate, Glass House development page (amenities) · National Resources, signature residential communities · Levin Management, Edgewater Harbor leasing brochure (2023) · NJ.com, 'HomeGoods to anchor 21-acre Edgewater Harbor development' (July 5, 2012) · Phillips Preiss, Edgewater Harbor Mixed-Use Development · Real Estate Weekly, 'Bank arranges $30M loan for new waterfront complex' (February 11, 2014) · Coldwell Banker, 3 Somerset Ln #411 (closed MLS listing: pets allowed, amenities) · Coldwell Banker, 3 Somerset Ln-Glass House #103 (townhome collection of 15) · DDC Lifestyle Realty, 3 Somerset Lane #616 (MLS 25006859: 24/7 concierge) · Homes.com, Glass House building page · Living on the Hudson, The Glass House · NJ Division of Taxation, SR1A sales data files 2023-2026 (Edgewater, Block 99, Lot 1.15) · NJParcels.com, 3 Somerset Ln-Glass House, Block 99, Lot 1.15 · NY Waterway, Edgewater Ferry Landing · Borough of Edgewater, Shuttles and Buses · NJ Transit, Bus 158 schedule · Wikipedia, Edgewater Public Schools · NCES school search, Edgewater School District · OpenStreetMap (building footprint and distances)
Photos: Photo by Luigi Novi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped · Photo by Luigi Novi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped · Photo by Luigi Novi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped
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