In 1966, a group of Ryerson students frustrated with the lack of accessible student housing put their collective minds together to problem-solve solutions to the shortage. What they initially developed was a student-run housing registry, but they knew that if they were really going to affect change for the better, the solution needed to be more permanent. Co-operative living became a viable option, and in the spring of 1969, an official sod-turning party at the corner of Mutual and Gerrard Streets was held, marking a three-year effort of the newly formed Board of Directors to secure financing, find a site, and organize construction.

By 1968, 100 students had moved into Rochdale College, the training ground of co-operative housing, to learn exactly what it meant to run a co-op for students. The doors to Neill-Wycik opened in 1970 with the 22-storey Gerrard wing, followed in 1988 by the addition of the McGill wing.