Originally built as a strip mall, the Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center is getting a makeover as a walkable community thanks to the addition of The Delwyn apartment complex, writes Sandy Smith for Philadelphia Magazine.

The owner, Federal Realty Investment Trust, which acquired the shopping center in 1998, began the first phase of the shopping center’s transformation into a mixed-use live/work/play neighborhood last fall with the opening of the 87-unit apartment building.

The architecture of the addition is reminiscent of early-20th-century industrial buildings, which distinguishes it from the midcentury modern architecture surrounding it.

The building is perfectly situated near the end of a passageway between the shopping center’s retail buildings.

This gives the tenants convenient access to all the stores as well as to City Avenue.

Now, with the first apartment addition having been a huge success, Federal is planning to proceed with the next step of the center’s transformation: a new mixed-use residential/retail building that will be constructed on the site of the shuttered Lord & Taylor department store.

This new building, the Delwyn, will be larger and feature rental apartments with a two-level enclosed parking garage.

The Delwyn is to be located at 20 St. Asaph’s Road in Bala Cynwyd, and will have studio apartments and one- and two-bedroom units, ranging in size from 730 to 1,135 square feet.

Read more about The Delwyn in Philadelphia Magazine.