 The mall was built on the former site of the city's main railway station as part of a major inner city redevelopment project in the 1960s that also saw construction of a freeway, the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge, TCU Place (formerly Centennial Auditorium) - an arts-convention complex - and a new facility for the city's YMCA.The mall officially opened with 51 stores and services - as well as an extensive underground parking garage - on July 30, 1970; however, one of its anchor tenants, Simpsons-Sears (which Sears Canada) opened for business in 1968; it closed in January, 2018.Eatons was the mall's second anchor until that chain went out of business in the late 1990s; The Bay (later branded Hudson's Bay) subsequently relocated to the mall from its 2nd Avenue standalone location.