The building originally contained the Formica Corporation headquarters,[2] and the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) was located on the second floor of the arcade.

[3] At the time, it was the largest exhibition venue devoted to contemporary art in the United States.

Prior to moving to the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in 2003, the CAC featured work by noteworthy artists such as Robert Morris, Jennifer Bartlett and Maya Angelou.

The iconic Nam June Paik sculpture Metrobot stood in front of the building from 1988 to 2009.

In 2024, the Model Group renovated the Mercantile Center and Formica Building into a mixed-use residential development.