Carleton Place is in the limelight

Published Jul 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read

An 1869 church in downtown Carleton Place has been repurposed as an apartment building called Chapel Lofts. Photo by Supplied

Carleton Place has a problem many small towns would be glad to have: It’s almost too popular.

The town of about 12,500 immediately southwest of Ottawa has been among Canada’s fastest-growing communities for much of the last decade. According to Statistics Canada, the population grew by 17.6 per cent between 2016 and 2021. Lanark County is forecasting that Carleton Place could be home to almost 21,000 people by 2038.

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A highway expansion is part of the reason for the boom, says Jackie Kavanagh, general manager of the Carleton Place and District Chamber of Commerce. In 2011, the stretch of Highway 7 from Highway 417 to Carleton Place was expanded to a four-lane, controlled-access highway. “That was a big turning point for the community,” says Kavanagh, noting that the wider highway made the town a more appealing option for Ottawa commuters.

Ottawa-based Lepine Apartments constructed the Johanne’s Court complex on the east side of Carleton Place. Photo by Supplied

Of course, all those newcomers need places to live, and housing developments have sprung up along the town’s edges. They include several projects in the east end, and the HighGate and Mississippi Shores neighbourhoods on the west side of town. Until recently, most of the new builds have been townhouses, semi-detached homes, bungalows and larger single-family homes.

Town council, recognizing a shortage of apartments and other small units, now offers grants of up to $5,000 to help homeowners build accessory residential units, such as garden suites and basement flats. Uptake of the grant has been steady, says Jennifer Hughes, planning administrative clerk with the Town of Carleton Place. As well as providing small rental dwellings, these units also help homeowners generate cash to defray their mortgage expenses, she notes.

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Businesses overlook the Mississippi River in downtown Carleton Place. Photo by Supplied

Apartment building developers are also seeing opportunity in Carleton Place. Ottawa-based Lépine Apartments is constructing a 227-unit rental complex called Johanne’s Garden on Coleman Street, next to an existing Lépine complex called Johanne’s Court. And Cavanagh Developments recently received approval to build an 84-unit apartment complex in Mississippi Shores, slated to include 12 affordable studio units and 20 barrier-free apartments.

In some cases, historic buildings have been creatively repurposed to create rental housing. For instance, an 1869 downtown church has been divided into apartments and dubbed Chapel Lofts.

That conversion appealed to Sandra Stapledon, who moved from Barrhaven into a Chapel Lofts apartment in June 2024. The single retiree says she’s happy she made the leap, citing the Mississippi River and charming shops downtown—as well as big-box stores on the outskirts—as key drawing cards.

The Carleton Landing neighbourhood is a recent development on the east side of Carleton Place. Photo by Supplied

The community’s small-town feel also attracted Kevin and Kaitey Cosgrove, who moved from Orleans to Carleton Place in 2016. “We’re really bullish on the town,” says Kevin Cosgrove. “It’s really family oriented.”

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Initially, they commuted from Carleton Place to government jobs in Ottawa. These days, the parents of three both work in Carleton Place. Kaitey runs the Foundry Collective and Coffee Bar, the couple’s café and co-working space on Bridge Street, and Kevin became a real estate agent.

When he started working in real estate in 2019, houses in Carleton Place were much cheaper than similar properties in Ottawa, Cosgrove says. However, the pandemic spurred an influx of newcomers, and prices rose accordingly. These days, modern homes in Carleton Place are often listed at prices not far from those for similar properties in Kanata and Stittsville, he says. After all, it’s just a 25-minute drive from the east end of Carleton Place to the high-tech companies of Kanata North.

In early July, a five-year-old, three-bedroom semi on Morris Street, with a second-floor laundry and finished basement, was listed at $599,000. For those seeking space for a big family, a six-bedroom house with a nine-person hot tub on Bryce Court had an asking price of $835,000.

However, new homes aren’t the only game in town. Carleton Place’s advantage, Cosgrove says, is that it offers a wider range of housing types—including 1950s bungalows and charming century homes—than is available in Ottawa’s far-west-end suburbs. When the Cosgroves moved to town, they bought a house built in 1910.

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Restaurant patios dot Bridge Street in downtown Carleton Place. Photo by Supplied

If that sort of place is more your style, a four-bedroom, two-bath Victorian home on downtown’s High Street, with original woodwork, an updated kitchen and a big backyard, was recently listed at $769,000.

It’s not just Carleton Place’s range of housing stock and proximity to Ottawa that attract newcomers. The town also offers lots of amenities, such as the two rinks at the Carleton Place Arena and the 25-metre pool at the local aquatic centre. The Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital—which, like many small-town hospitals, has struggled with staff shortages in recent years—is currently expanding its emergency department from six treatment spaces to 11. Carleton Place also has public and Catholic English schools, and a French Catholic elementary school. And when school’s out for the summer, there are lots of parks, beaches, soccer fields and baseball diamonds where kids can let off steam.

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