Another residential highrise proposed for Carlington neighbourhood
By Mia Jensen, OBJ
May 11, 2026
A Kingston-based company is eyeing a site across from the former Westgate Shopping Centre for a new residential tower, adding to a flurry of development activity in the area.
Homestead Land Holdings has submitted an application to build a 20-storey residential building with 201 housing units on a surface parking lot behind the existing apartment tower at 1316 Carling Ave.
The proposed site consolidates the Carling Avenue property with another parcel at 1251 Thames St. According to planning documents, the site is currently occupied by a two-storey residential building, which would be demolished to make way for the new tower.
The project’s planning rationale said the tower’s design steps down from 20 storeys to nine storeys and then to four storeys toward the southern property line in an effort to smooth the transition to the abutting residential neighbourhood.
As part of the project, a municipal park is planned along Thames Street, as well as a pedestrian pathway connecting Thames to Carling Avenue.
Also included in the proposal is a new surface parking lot, as well as an underground parking garage with 377 spaces that would be shared between the new and existing buildings.
“The proposed development proposes efficient growth through intensification in an area served by existing infrastructure and public services while providing new housing,” the document said, adding the project will “introduce a new public park and contribute to connectivity within the community, further seeding the conditions of a 15-minute neighbourhood.” Carling Avenue has been identified by the city as a target for intensification, with the area around the former Westgate Shopping Centre receiving considerable attention from developers.
Directly west of the proposed property, at 1330 Carling Ave. and 815 Archibald St., a site plan has been approved for a 24-storey mixed-use building with 175 units and 729 square metres of commercial space.
To the east, Ottawa real estate firm Ambassador Realty has submitted an application to build two towers connected by a two-storey podium on a one-acre site at 1296 and 1300 Carling Ave. The site is currently occupied by a pair of three-storey commercial buildings. The development would include a 28-storey highrise with residential apartments and two at-grade commercial units, as well as a shorter eight-storey tower. The two buildings would contain a total of 323 residential units.
The sites of both proposed developments are about half a kilometre from Highway 417 and the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus and less than a kilometre from the Central Experimental Farm.
Other nearby properties include two 21-storey apartment buildings, a four-storey Best Western hotel and a 22-storey residential highrise. To the south are low-rise residential dwellings that are part of the Carlington neighbourhood. A planning document for the Ambassador Realty development, prepared by Novatech Engineering Consultants, noted that the area has seen an uptick in development activity. “The proposed development will provide for intensification in proximity to frequent bus service at the intersection of Carling Avenue and Merivale Road,” the planning rationale filed with the proposal said, adding the taller building’s height “is compatible with planned intensification of the Carling Avenue streetscape.” The site of the former Westgate Shopping Centre, which closed in October 2025, is being redeveloped by owner RioCan Holdings, furthering intensification in the area.
The initial phase of the plan includes demolishing the majority of the mall to make way for a single-storey grocery store next to the existing Shoppers Drug Mart, according to an urban design brief for the project. Later phases will introduce mixed-use highrises to bring more residential units to the area.
The city’s 2013 transportation master plan identified the stretch of Carling between the former Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre and the Dow’s Lake LRT station as a “future rail-based transit corridor.” The updated transportation master plan released earlier this year now recommends Carling become a “median transitway” serviced by buses. Other nearby proposals include a plan by Inside Edge Properties, filed last year, to build a 28-storey highrise with 370 rental units at 1657 Carling Ave. and 386 Tillbury Ave. Across the street from that site, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust plans to build six mixed-use highrises ranging from 18 to 40 storeys on a five-and-a-half-acre site at the southeast corner of Carling Avenue and Clyde Avenue North next to a former Canadian Tire store that has been converted into an Altea fitness facility. Quebec-based Clobracon Construction is building two towers of 16 and 18 storeys that will contain more than 400 rental units at 1655 Carling Ave., while Claridge Homes has filed plans to build six highrises containing up to 2,000 housing units just south of RioCan’s property at 891 Clyde Ave. between Carling Avenue and the Queensway. Farther west at 1707 Carling Ave., the same developer is building a 22-storey apartment highrise aimed at retirees. With files from David Sali
https://obj.ca/another-residential-highrise-proposed-carlington/
Linear Mode
