Todd Glaser wins approval for three-story addition on historic Palm Beach mansion

Plans include new pantry, laundry room, staff room, and master suite expansion

Todd Glaser with rendering of addition to 125 Via Del Lago
Todd Glaser with rendering of addition to 125 Via Del Lago (Glaser by Mary Beth Koeth, LaBerge & Menard Inc., Getty)

South Florida spec developer Todd Glaser won approval for a three-story addition to his historic mansion in Palm Beach.

Glaser’s plans for the addition to his primary residence at 125 Via Del Lago were presented at Wednesday’s Palm Beach Town Council Development Review meeting, where council members voted 4-1 in favor of the project. Glaser received variances to allow for an addition to an existing third story of a single-family home and to exceed maximum building height.

The 890-square-foot three-story addition will expand the property’s ground-floor garage, and add a pantry, laundry room, and staff room on the first floor, according to the plans and Glaser. The top floor of the addition will expand the master suite, with a bathroom, office and bedroom. 

Glaser first bought the 0.8-acre property for $11 million in 2017. He restored the 8,700-square-foot mansion and sold it for $16.1 million in 2019. Then, he and his wife, Kim Glaser, bought it again in July for $23.3 million. The historic estate was built in 1929 and designed by one of the island’s celebrated architects, Marion Sims Wyeth, who is also known for designing Mar-a-Lago Club and Florida’s Governor’s Mansion. 

“The house is good, we just want to make it better,” Glaser said. “We want to be here for a long time.”

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Glaser commissioned West Palm Beach-based architecture firm LaBerge & Menard to design the addition. It’s the same team he worked with when he restored the home.

“He does a lot of my landmarked stuff,” Glaser said, describing Daniel LaBerge as a handlebar mustachioed, tweed coat-wearing expert in historic homes.

In LaBerge’s presentation to the Palm Beach Landmarks Preservation Commission on Jan. 18, he explained the design of the addition keeps the original walls of the home intact, so future owners can remove it.  

The Glasers sold their longtime Miami Beach home for $11.8 million last month. 

Shortly after the Glasers became permanent Palm Beach residents, Glaser and his partners listed four properties on the island for a combined $353 million. The biggest listing of the four by far is $218 million for the newly renovated historic mansion at 10 Tarpon Isle, on the 2.3-acre private man-made Tarpon Island.