The Pearl
9 Somerset Lane (45 River Road), Edgewater, NJ 07020 · Edgewater Harbor, Edgewater, NJ
The Pearl is a six-story loft condominium at Edgewater Harbor, carved out of the former Lever Brothers research center that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed in the early 1950s, with 10-foot ceilings, full-height windows, and a pool facing Manhattan.
At a glance
- Type
- Condominium (adaptive reuse of a former research building)
- Built
- 1952 as the Lever Brothers research laboratory; converted to condominiums 2013-16
- Height
- 6 stories
- Residences
- About 115, one to four bedrooms including combined units and penthouses
- Architect
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (original building); Lessard Design Associates (conversion); Alan Tanksley Interiors
- Developer
- National Resources
- Service
- 24-hour concierge and doorman
- Amenities
- Outdoor heated pool facing Manhattan, fitness center, club room, rooftop deck with grills, residents' pier, garage parking, shuttle to the NY Waterway ferry
- Pets
- Allowed, with a dog run shared with The View
A 1950s soap-company laboratory turned loft condominium
The Pearl began life as a laboratory. When Lever Brothers moved its executive offices from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to its new glass tower on Park Avenue, it consolidated research in one building at 45 River Road in Edgewater, about 30 minutes from Manhattan. The company dedicated the center on November 18, 1952: a five-story research laboratory and a two-story pilot plant, distinguished, like Lever House itself, by its glass construction. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the firm behind Lever House, designed it. Chemists there developed products including Dove soap, Aim gel toothpaste, and Mrs. Butterworth's syrup.
The waterfront campus stayed in research use for half a century under Unilever. In 2005 the company asked federal regulators to release the decommissioned site for unrestricted use, and the 21-acre property later became Edgewater Harbor, a mixed-use development by National Resources with a new Edgewater Borough Hall (opened 2011), a Main Street of shops anchored by HomeGoods, and several residential buildings, including The View, The Oyster, The Glass House, and The Pearl.
National Resources converted the old lab in two phases, working with Lessard Design Associates and Alan Tanksley Interiors. The conversion added a sixth floor, new full-height windows, natural finishes, and energy-efficient systems; the first phase was more than half sold by August 2014, and Phase II, financed as 63 condominiums, followed in 2015. The building's former laboratory floor plates give the residences loft proportions, with 10-foot ceilings (some units cite 12-foot windows) and many homes facing the Hudson and the Manhattan skyline.
Josh's view of The Pearl
What you won't find on a listing portal, in Josh's own words.
Who it suits
Those who want to be close to New York City without the hassle of living in the city!
Buying here
The Pearl provides you with a prestigious luxury condominium, with a shuttle to the NY Waterway ferry and all of the modern luxuries that a top-tier building should provide.
The best lines
They are all unique and different, but a view of the water can't be beat!
Mistakes buyers make
River Road can be busy, but easy access to the ferry is worth gold.
What a listing won't tell you
Edgewater has some of the best views of New York City in the tri-state area, on par with Brooklyn, Queens, and other communities.
Inside The Pearl
Edgewater Harbor, home of The Pearl, from the Palisades.
Living at The Pearl
The Pearl sits at the southern end of Edgewater inside Edgewater Harbor, the waterfront development off River Road at Main Street, a short walk from Edgewater Borough Hall at 55 River Road. Main Street brings HomeGoods, CVS, Five Guys, and other shops and restaurants to the building's door, and the larger grocery stores along River Road, Trader Joe's, Mitsuwa Marketplace, and Whole Foods, are a short drive north. Edgewater runs its own public schools for pre-K through sixth grade, and borough students attend Leonia Middle School and Leonia High School for grades 7 through 12.
- Commute: NJ Transit bus 158 runs along River Road to the Port Authority Bus Terminal; the building's shuttle and the borough's free weekday South Bus (which stops at Main Street at Edgewater Harbor) connect to NY Waterway ferries at Edgewater Ferry Landing (989 River Road, about 2.2 miles north) and Port Imperial in Weehawken (about 2 miles south) for Midtown/West 39th Street
- Parks and waterfront: a private residents' pier and an Edgewater Harbor dog park on site, with the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway along the Edgewater shoreline
- Schools: Edgewater Public Schools (George Washington School, pre-K to 2, and Eleanor Van Gelder School, grades 3 to 6, both on Undercliff Avenue); Leonia Middle School and Leonia High School for grades 7 to 12, about 5 miles north
- Shopping and landmarks: Edgewater Harbor's Main Street retail and Borough Hall next door; Mitsuwa Marketplace (595 River Road) about 1.2 miles, Trader Joe's (715 River Road) about 1.5 miles, and Whole Foods (905 River Road) about 1.9 miles north
Run the numbers
Sources: Chemical & Engineering News, 'People Who Work in Glass Buildings' (Lever Brothers Edgewater laboratory dedication, 1952) · REBusinessOnline, 'Mark Scott's CMC Arranges $12.5M Construction Loan for Phase II of The Pearl' (May 20, 2015) · Commercial Observer, 'CIT Funds Edgewater, N.J., Condos' (May 15, 2015) · NJBIZ, construction loan for Phase 2 of the Pearl (August 11, 2014) · Multi-Housing News, 'Commercial Mortgage Capital Arranges $20M Construction Loan for Condo' (August 15, 2014) · NJ.com, 'HomeGoods to anchor 21-acre Edgewater Harbor development' (July 5, 2012) · Federal Register, NRC license amendment for Unilever Research and Development, Edgewater, NJ (October 28, 2005) · NorthJersey.com, Upper Saddle River chemist and the Lever Brothers Edgewater lab (May 6, 2020) · Levin Management, Edgewater Harbor leasing brochure (building list and unit counts) · National Resources, signature residential communities · The Pearl sales site (National Resources) · PearlNJ.com (Smart Realty), Features and Amenities · Homes.com, The Pearl building page · Madison Adams, The Pearl · Living on the Hudson, The Pearl · Compass, 9 Somerset Ln Unit 108-109 (sold February 2023) · Jacki Lee Homes, 9 Somerset Lane 301 (sold February 2023) · Compass, 9 Somerset Ln Unit 308 (sold November 2023) · Compass, 9 Somerset Ln Unit 418 (sold May 2024) · NJMLS, 9 Somerset Lane Unit 312 (sold September 2024) · Coldwell Banker, 9 Somerset Ln PH 615-616 (sold August 2024) · Compass, 9 Somerset Ln Unit PH 620 (sold December 2024) · Howard Hanna, 9 Somerset Lane PH 620 (sold, Hudson MLS) · Zillow, 9 Somerset Ln Unit 402 (sold) · Coldwell Banker, 9 Somerset Ln #222 (sold July 2026) · Coldwell Banker, 9 Somerset Ln #501 (sold August 2026) · TOCR, 9 Somerset Lane #422 (sold) · Coldwell Banker, 9 Somerset Lane #403-404 listing (amenities, garage, EV charging) · Apartments.com, 9 Somerset Ln rental listing (pet restriction for that rental) · Borough of Edgewater, Shuttles & Buses · NY Waterway, Edgewater Ferry Landing · NJ Transit, Bus 158 timetable · NCES, Edgewater School District schools · Wikipedia, Edgewater Public Schools · Hudson River Waterfront Conservancy, Edgewater walkway notes · OpenStreetMap / Nominatim geocodes (distance estimates, straight line)
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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