Residences at Bala Cynwyd Receives 2025 Montgomery Award for Design Excellence 

The Residences at Bala Cynwyd, a premier senior living community developed by LCB Senior Living, has been honored with a 2025 Montgomery Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in planning, design, and environmental stewardship within Montgomery County. 

The Montgomery Awards, one of the region’s most prestigious programs, celebrate projects that enhance local communities through innovative design, sustainability, and contributions to public spaces. This year’s recognition highlights the Residences at Bala Cynwyd for its sensitive site planning, contextual design, and ability to overcome complex development challenges while delivering a vibrant community asset. 

Situated on the Philadelphia Main Line, the Residences at Bala Cynwyd is a six-story, 102,000-square-foot assisted living and memory care community that includes 84 one- and two-bedroom units, along with outdoor amenities such as a dining terrace, plaza, and pocket park, designed by Bohler’s planning and landscape architecture team. The project is located on a five-acre parcel once home to the historic West Manayunk Woolen Mills, later known as Lee’s Shoddy Mill. The new development pays homage to this industrial legacy through thoughtful design elements including stone veneer, exposed steel framing, board-formed concrete, and a natural exterior palette. 

The site presented significant engineering challenges, including steep slopes and a watercourse traversing the property. To address these complexities, the project team implemented extensive shoring and stabilization techniques using poured-in-place and shotcrete retaining walls. Bohler provided site civil and consulting engineering, surveying, landscape architecture, and permitting services, ensuring the successful integration of modern infrastructure with the site’s unique topography and historical context. 

Bohler’s planning, landscape architecture, and design team created a pocket park and meandering trail, and facilitated the design of a pedestrian bridge over Gully Run.

“The Residences at Bala Cynwyd reflects the best of what the Montgomery Awards honor—thoughtful, sustainable development that both serves its residents and strengthens the fabric of the community,” said Cornelius Brown, Principal at Bohler.

In addition to this honor, the project is also a finalist for the Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Awards in the assisted living category, further underscoring its impact and design excellence. 

Learn more here.