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Amazon has begun to dismantle parts of its massive new facility in Barrhaven, but has not explained why.
The 290,000-square-foot facility on Bill Leathem Drive, near Merivale and Fallowfield roads, has been under construction since at least early 2025.
On Friday, the building appeared to be at least one storey shorter than it did in early February.
In a statement, Amazon said it had started to “disassemble portions of the existing structure and [intends] to rebuild in a manner that ensures that the building’s design meets future requirements.”
The company did not specify the reason, nor did it say when it expects the rebuild to be completed.
The Amazon warehouse on Bill Leathem Drive in Ottawa on Feb. 6, 2026. (Jason MacLellan/CBC)
In 2021, a site plan submitted by Medusa LP described the subsoil there as “a clayey silt deposit, a glacial till deposit and ultimately bedrock.”
Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo told CBC in an email last month that Amazon is tweaking its interior floor plan, but that “no changes are being made to the building envelope and footprint.”
He said all the construction work would be done during the day.
The building has been a source of controversy for some residents who are concerned about increasing traffic on arterial roads in the area.
Amazon’s existing warehouses in Ottawa, one in the city’s southeast and another in the southwest, are beside 400-series highways, while the Barrhaven facility is not.
When it was proposed, former city councillor Carol Anne Meehan objected to the project partly because it’s not located near a major highway.