Ottawa real estate firm Ambassador Realty is proposing to build a mixed-use highrise across from the former Westgate Shopping Centre on Carling Avenue.
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Ottawa real estate firm Ambassador Realty is proposing to build a mixed-use highrise across from the former Westgate Shopping Centre on Carling Avenue.
In a development application recently filed with the city, the firm says it plans to build two towers connected by a two-storey podium at 1296 and 1300 Carling Ave. The first tower would be 28 storeys and would contain residential units and two at-grade commercial units, while the second shorter tower would be eight storeys.
In total, the two towers would include 323 residential units.
The one-acre site is currently occupied by a pair of three-storey commercial buildings.
Planning documents prepared by Novatech Engineering Consultants note that the neighbourhood is seeing a marked 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.”
In addition to the site of the former shopping centre across the road to the north, other nearby properties include two 21-storey apartment buildings, a four-storey Best Western hotel and a 22-storey residential highrise. To the south, at the rear of the lot, are low-rise residential dwellings that are part of the Carlington neighbourhood.
The site is also within 600 metres of Highway 417 and the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, and less than a kilometre from the Central Experimental Farm.
“The goal of this development is to provide urban living options that improve the built landscape of the neighbourhood in a sustainable, intentional densification,” DCA Architects said in its urban design brief about the project.
The proposal also includes plans for an underground parking garage with 215 vehicle spaces, in addition to 215 bicycle storage spots and eight outdoor parking spaces. A driveway off Carling Avenue is suggested to provide access to the property.
In recent years, the stretch along Carling Avenue has seen a flurry of activity, with DCA Architects stating the area has become a focal point for densification and “an increasing number of infill and highrise developments have been proposed and approved for this area.”
The city’s 2013 transportation master plan identified the stretch of Carling between the site of 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.
Last year, Inside Edge Properties filed a plan 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.
City council gave that project the green light in 2024.
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
