After months shrouded in scaffolding, Mayo Clinic Square is finally open. The site's owner, Provident Real Estate Ventures, hopes that its high-profile tenants — the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, and its anchor, Mayo Clinic — will help shed the building's image as a failed property, formerly known as Block E.
The teams' leadership and the property owner say its new practice facilities and executive offices, now across 1st Avenue from Target Center, will be the envy of the pro leagues.
Meanwhile, Mayo's new sports medicine clinic opened in October and is already exceeding patient count projections. A new performance improvement program area, called Exos, takes a more holistic approach to training young or injured athletes.
Provident also made cosmetic and functional changes to the structure, opening up the public areas with more doors and escalators and a better line of sight between Hennepin and 1st avenues. Phillip Jaffe, the company's CEO, said its previous fortresslike design discouraged pedestrian flow, which ultimately hurt the previous tenants' visibility.
![The new practice court for the Timberwolves at the Timberwolves and Lynx Courts at Mayo Clinic Square in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. ] LEILA NAVIDI leila.navidi@startribune.com /](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/XTRKWPOSOKW65MHOVZVDUONMEM.jpg?&w=1080)
![The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine training area at Mayo Clinic Square in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. ] LEILA NAVIDI leila.navidi@startribune.com /](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/GFWDHTQRI3L4PSD36UGY32XGPQ.jpg?&w=1080)
![Gas was $2.39 at the BP gas station ay 46th Street at Lyndale in South Minneapolis. ] GLEN STUBBE * gstubbe@startribune.com Friday September 4, 2015 Pre-Labor Day gas prices in the U.S. are the lowest in 11 years, and under $2 per gallon in many states, though Minnesota's average is nearly 40 cents higher. Just one station, in Brainerd, was selling at $1.99. Checking on whether that is a promotion. Costco and Sams Clubs, usually the low price leaders, were 15 cents more. With some motorists' tho](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/4U372WPXFGGQGQHPL2CTC4SFUY.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)