SM City North EDSA was built on a land which was then a marshland in a relatively remote location amidst a political crisis which saw interest rates to rise as high as 45 percent. The lot was previously owned by the Government Service Insurance System and originally intended to be used to host houses for public school teachers. The mall opened on November 8, 1985. It was the first mall built by SM Prime Holdings Inc. and initially only had SM's fifth department store and first supermarket as its tenants. At that time, it had a gross floor area of .