MINNEAPOLIS—Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5^TH caused a bit of a stir in this city's retail world last year when it announced it was closing its location at 655 Nicollet Mall after a 25-year run, but the new owners United Properties and Capital Real Estate, Inc., which last year bought the first two floors of the property, also known as Gaviidae Common, have succeeded in leasing it up pretty quickly. UP officials say they have just signed a lease with North Memorial Health Care for a clinic on the second floor. The skyway-level space will become the sixteenth North Memorial Health Care primary care clinic location in the metro area. Walgreens leased the first floor of the 50,000 square-foot space for its first upscale store in the state.

North Memorial will open the 8,000 square-foot clinic in November 2015. It will offer primary care, including walk-in appointments, advanced imaging, mammography, podiatry, occupational medicine and lab services and have direct access to Gaviidae Common and the IDS Center. The project team includes general contractor BTS Construction, architect HGA, D.J. Kranz Co. and S2 Enterprises. 

“With this new location we are bringing the North Memorial care that this community has come to trust and value close to where they live and work,” says Kelly Macken-Marble, North Memorial Health Care president of population health and ambulatory services. 

Construction on the Walgreens space began in February and will be complete by this September.  

These are not the only big changes to the CBD's retail lineup. As reported in GlobeSt.com, when KBS Real Estate Investment Trust III acquired the RBC Plaza in 2013 for $118.1 million, company officials decided to transform the adjacent four-story retail mall, formerly known as the Gaviidae Common II, into an integral part of the 40-story, 678,045-square-foot building. The third and fourth floors were recreated as modern office space, the rest into building amenities.