One hundred years ago M.J. O'Brien of Renfrew purchased this land from the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) for $6,000. The original address was 17 Beech Street.  He built a factory to house two of his endeavours - a mica works factory (O’Brien & Fowler),   and general railroad contracting (O'Brien, McDougall & O'Gorman).  There were two railways nearby, one to the west and one to the north, both of which went to the railway stations where the Tom Brown Arena and City Centre now sit.

The O'Brien businesses remained in the building until 1938, when the building was taken over by Therien Co., a rug, upholstery and furniture cleaning company.

In January 1941 Mortimers purchased the building. Mortimers immediately took out a permit to add a two-storey addition on the north side, adding about 50% extra space to the original structure. Mortimers operated a printing business until the 1970s: Mortimer Limited (yearbooks, litographs, etc).

In the 1980s, the Cream Jean Co. Ltd. manufactured and sold jeans here until the early 1990’s.

During the 1990s there were a variety of business tenants.

The building was converted by Craig Callan Jones to condominiums in 2000.  The name of the project was The Warehouse Lofts.