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Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre will likely be torn down in phases to make way for a major redevelopment, the mall owner admits.

In a candid interview, RioCan chief executive officer Edward Sonshine said the sprawling, two-level mall, wedged between western Carling Avenue and Richmond Road, “is not doing well.”

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This assessment will hardly come as news to locals. The shopping centre lost its Walmart in January and the 120,000 square feet continue to sit empty, as do a handful of stores on the upper level.

The Lincoln Fields reimagining is part of a company-wide effort to update its old-style malls in major Canadian markets with access to transit, including four sites in Ottawa.

The firm, the country’s largest mall owner, is making a major bet on highrise rental, eying about 3,000 to 4,000 new units in the next five years.

Sonshine said two major trends are behind the company’s thinking. Pushback against urban sprawl has meant intensification is strongly underway in inner cities, leading to 50- and 60-storey towers in places once thought unthinkable.