UPDATED: Amazon poised to expand Ottawa footprint with massive new warehouse in Barrhaven

Amazon is building a massive new warehouse in Barrhaven designed to serve shoppers nationwide in a move that solidifies the National Capital Region as a key distribution hub for the e-commerce giant. Amazon acquired three parcels of land on Leikin Drive and Bill Leathem Drive from Montreal-based developer Broccolini for $109.1 million, CBRE said in its latest Ottawa industrial market report released this week. An Amazon spokesperson subsequently confirmed the company purchased the property for the new facility last year, adding the tech giant has "worked closely with city officials on all matters related to planning since last fall." She said the new fulfilment centre will "serve customers across the country." Broccolini filed a proposal late last year to construct a five-storey, 3.1-million-square-foot distribution facility at the 75-acre site about a kilometre southeast of the intersection of Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road. The Amazon spokesperson would not say whether Broccolini was still leading construction of the new fulfilment centre. In an email to OBJ, she said the company would share more information about the project "as details are confirmed." Broccolini executive vice-president of real estate James Beach did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Broccolini has previously built two other fulfilment centres in Ottawa that are now being leased to Amazon – a 2.8-million-square-foot warehouse farther west in Barrhaven at 222 Citigate Dr. that opened in 2021 and a one-million-square-foot distribution facility that opened on Boundary Road in the city’s south end in 2019. This time, Amazon will own the facility, further cementing the National Capital Region’s status as a mainstay of the e-commerce powerhouse's logistics network, CBRE Ottawa managing director Maxime Foucaud says. “It is a strategic location for them in a growing market,” Foucaud told OBJ Friday, citing Ottawa’s close proximity and easy highway access to Canada’s two largest population centres in Toronto and Montreal.  “It’s great to see Amazon solidify their position here and strengthen their position in Ottawa, and it’s good news for the industrial market overall as well.” In its development application filed last fall, Broccolini said it plans to start building the new mega-warehouse – which will become Ottawa’s largest industrial building – in a single phase and is aiming to complete the project in 2026. The Barrhaven land purchase follows Amazon’s decision early this year to close all seven of its warehouses in Quebec.  An Amazon spokesperson told OBJ in January the company is “always looking at our business to see if there are things we can do better,” but said the closures would have no immediate impact on the firm’s Ottawa operations. The new facility will boost Amazon’s total footprint in Ottawa to 6.9 million square feet of warehouse space.  “I think there’s a lot of positives for Ottawa,” Foucaud said. “That on the tailwind of obviously everything happening in Quebec, it’s great news for the city.” Amazon’s project brings the total amount of industrial space currently under construction in the capital to 3.6 million square feet, the highest amount ever. The local industrial sector has cooled off somewhat in recent months due to uncertainty over the potential impact of tariffs and other economic worries, CBRE said. The city’s industrial vacancy rate rose to 2.2 per cent at the end of June, up slightly from 2.1 per cent in the first quarter. But Ottawa’s vacancy rate remains the lowest of any major Canadian city. Meanwhile, average net rents have risen nearly nine per cent over the past year and are among the country’s highest at $16.89 per square foot, thanks to continued leasing activity from occupiers looking to scale up their footprint or expand into the National Capital Region. “There’s been perhaps a wait-and-see (approach from) some tenants, but just based on fundamentals and low new supply, demand (for industrial space) remains strong,” Foucaud said. “We’re maybe a couple of deals away from (having) very low availability. We’re in a good position here in Ottawa to capture this momentum that we keep seeing in industrial.”