North Hill Centre was originally built as a strip mall accompanied by a freestanding Simpson-Sears department store.

The design featured a central corridor with irregularly sized columns and ceiling heights, presenting an inconsistent look to the storefronts in the mall.

The interior columns were removed, the mall ceiling was raised to a consistent height, and additional shops and services were added.

The renovations also involved demolishing the standalone movie theatre/bowling alley on the mall's north side to make room for more parking and building footprint expansion, which included the addition of several restaurants and other businesses with exterior-only access.

In 2004, The Renaissance, consisting of two eight-storey condominium towers, was built adjacent to the mall and above a new covered parking area.

In the early 90s, a gas station located in the parking lot and operated by Sears Canada was found to have been leaking into the soil, poisoning the groundwater.