At 152 units, with a mix spanning studios to penthouses, the Wilford carries a direct design imperative: shared spaces that perform equally well for occupants at entirely different life stages. The Monarch Development building sits three blocks from Lake Waconia in downtown Waconia, one of the more active corners of the west metro, and BDH led the interior design and FF&E throughout.
Our answer to the complexity of multiple generations’ preferences was a disciplined material palette: two-tone wood and fluted detailing repeated through amenities and common areas. The palette creates visual continuity across a building where residents arrived with very different expectations, and its measured restraint is precisely what delivers longevity.
The amenity programming focuses the largest impact where residents gather most. The lobby is planned as daily community infrastructure, anchored by a coffee bar and high-top seating rather than organized around arrival sequence alone. A glass-walled golf simulator opens off the entry, with drapes that close it off for privacy. The wellness wing pairs a fitness center with hot and cold therapy, sauna and cold plunge included. The sky deck above frames the downtown Waconia views, along with the water and shoreline the building overlooks.
