Two years after describing the property around the Carlingwood Shopping Centre property as ripe for densification, the owners of the west-end mall say there are currently no plans to add housing to the 30-acre site. Vancouver-based Anthem Properties Group and Toronto’s Streamliner Properties Inc. partnered in 2024 to acquire the 632,700-square-foot retail complex on Carling […]
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Two years after describing the property around the Carlingwood Shopping Centre property as ripe for densification, the owners of the west-end mall say there are currently no plans to add housing to the 30-acre site.
Vancouver-based Anthem Properties Group and Toronto’s Streamliner Properties Inc. partnered in 2024 to acquire the 632,700-square-foot retail complex on Carling Avenue, which is anchored by the country’s largest Canadian Tire store.
After purchasing the mall, the new owners issued a statement saying its proximity to a major arterial road and the soon-to-be-completed New Orchard LRT station made the property a “prime location for much-needed incremental residential density.”
However, a spokesperson for Anthem Properties now says the real estate firm and its Toronto-based partner don’t expect to launch any major construction projects at the site any time soon.
“At this time there are no development plans for Carlingwood,” Rebecca Vigelius, a communications adviser to Anthem, said in an email to OBJ.
Vigelius said Carlingwood’s owners “continue to maintain and improve” the shopping plaza, which celebrated its 70th anniversary three weeks ago.
A parking garage at the north end of the property was recently demolished because it “needed significant repair and was no longer in use,” she said, adding the structure is slated to be replaced with a new surface parking lot as well as updated sidewalks and stormwater drainage systems. That work is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Anthem and Streamliner said in May 2024 they planned to take a “phased approach” to building out the property, which some local real estate observers described as an ideal location for highrise condos or rental apartments on the parking lots surrounding the shopping centre.
When the mall’s previous owners put the plaza and its surrounding property up for sale three years ago, Carleton University professor Ian Lee argued Carlingwood’s true long-term value lies more in residential development than in its retail component.
“This is a real-estate play,” Lee, who teaches at the Sprott School of Business, told OBJ in July 2023. “The buyer will not be buying this because they want to become a shopping mall operator so much as to get that land.”
Considered a “suburban” mall when it first opened, Carlingwood has become comparatively closer to the city centre as Ottawa has grown, Lee noted, making it a desirable spot for residential development that’s not quite downtown but still easily accessible to the core.
“As the centre of gravity shifts westward, that land becomes more valuable,” he explained.
“How many large-area, flat-surface parking lots are … sitting around in prime parts of Ottawa? That land is too valuable now to just sit there as a parking lot. They will develop that land, and I’m sure that they will be developing it into condo towers, because then you can really maximize your return on that land.”
However, any plans to redevelop the property could require consent from some of the shopping centre’s biggest retailers.
When it was the mall’s flagship tenant, Sears had an agreement with Carlingwood’s management that prevented any development in the south parking lot so as to guarantee the retailer had visibility from Carling Avenue.
CBRE senior vice-president Jamie Boyce told OBJ in 2023 he wouldn’t be surprised if Canadian Tire had a similar arrangement with the mall.
While Anthem would not provide specific details about its agreements with Canadian Tire and Loblaws, which also has a large store on-site, Vigelius said both retailers have “long-term leases at Carlingwood that include provisions related to access, visibility and parking.”
In an email to OBJ this week, Canadian Tire spokesperson Tiffany Bourré said the retail giant does not disclose “proprietary terms or conditions of lease agreements.” Loblaw did not immediately provide details of its lease agreement with Carlingwood.
Billed as Ottawa’s largest shopping centre when it opened in 1956, Carlingwood now has nearly 100 stores and services. Besides Canadian Tire and Loblaws, its other tenants include Rexall, Dollarama, three banks and a fitness centre.
Two other major retail complexes on the Carling Avenue corridor, Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre and the Westgate Shopping Centre, were also originally planned to be redeveloped with mixed-use residential and commercial towers as part of their owner RioCan REIT’s effort to reinvigorate mid-tier properties that have been hit hard by the growing trend toward online shopping and changing consumer buying habits.
Both malls have been torn down. But amid a wave of new apartment construction and a slowdown in the rental market, RioCan is now reconsidering its plans to build residential highrises at the former Lincoln Fields site, Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh recently told the Kitchissippi Times.
