New life coming to a boarded-up building in downtown Edmonton | Daily Hive

That boarded-up brick building in downtown Edmonton is getting new life

Google Street View | Faction Projects Inc.

At the corner of 103rd Avenue and 106th Street in downtown Edmonton, you’ve likely watched over the past few years as boards slowly crept up over the windows of the historic brick building. Now surrounded by a fence, new life is coming to the Massey Ferguson Building.

A readout from the Edmonton Historic Resource Management Program explains the two-storey warehouse, which was built in 1947 in the International style and features masonry cladding, large storefront windows, and a strong horizontal presence along the avenue.

In the years following the Second World War, Edmonton saw significant economic growth. Even before oil was discovered near Leduc in 1947, new consumer spending and post-war optimism drove demand for commercial and warehouse space. In July 1946, the Canadian Massey Harris Company received a permit to build a “wholesale warehouse” here.

City of Edmonton/Facebook

At the time, the company was the largest agricultural equipment manufacturer in the British Empire. The two-storey showroom in Downtown Edmonton served as the main showroom and distribution centre for the region.

In 1953, Massey Harris merged with Ferguson Company of Ireland to become Massey Harris Ferguson, later shortened to Massey Ferguson in 1958. But by 1970, the building had been repurposed as the main showroom and warehouse for the Healy Ford dealership.

Now vacant, the Massey Ferguson Building is valued for its association with commercial development in the Downtown area of Edmonton in the post-Second World War era and was designated as a Municipal Historic Resource in September 2025.

You might also like:

Now, a new chapter is on the horizon.

Back in March, we found that a formal submission package had been submitted by Faction Architecture on behalf of ESH Housing Ltd. (care of Faction Projects Inc.), to construct a privately owned and operated student rental housing development.

Just a few days later, on March 14, a permit was issued for the partial demolition, excavation and site remediation work. On April 16, a major development permit was approved by the City of Edmonton for four residential buildings with a total of 696 units and a shared underground parkade. The project will also incorporate the historic Massey Ferguson facades within the south building.

Faction Projects Inc.

The project is designed to house students from nearby institutions, including MacEwan University, NorQuest College, NAIT, and the University of Alberta via easy LRT access.

Faction

According to its formal submission package, amenities would include indoor study rooms on each floor, a fitness area, a theatre room, and rooftop terraces on two of the buildings. A single-level underground parkade will provide 123 to 126 parking stalls and 696 bicycle parking spaces.

The site will also feature two open-air landscaped courtyards and a central public pedestrian pathway.

Faction Projects Inc.

The project is designed to be completed in two phases, with the north phase first and the south phase second.

Faction Projects Inc.

Phase one is expected to be completed in 2028, according to Faction Projects Inc.’s website.