Nacho was the linchpin of his large family, which packed the Hennepin County courtroom. He was a constant presence on the phone and a best friend to his children, including his son, Eddie, whose foot tapped anxiously as he gave his victim impact statement to the court. Eddie spoke of their unbreakable bond, how when they were served a bad meal they would throw chips into it and laughingly say, “the chips were pretty good.” They would play basketball and football and drive for hours just to be together.

“Mr. Robles,” Eddie said, looking at his father’s killer who interlaced his fingers and looked back, “you took my father, my best friend, my mentor away from me.”

Before he was sentenced, Canario Robles was given the customary right of being the last to speak.

He looked at the Orellana family, several of whom had said they were terrified of him, of his eventual release from prison, of what he might do to them and of his seeming lack of accountability for his crime.

Canario Robles began to sob and said, “There is not a letter that I can write to explain the remorse that I feel for that family.”

He said he did not care how much time he spent in prison, all that mattered was that they knew he was sorry. Canario Robles said he grew up without a father, that his uncle was murdered with a gunshot to the head and that everyday he will live forever with the “split-second” decision he made outside a Minneapolis nightclub. He said every night he dreams of Orellana. In those dreams, he sees Orellana with his family and at the hospital. On the worst nights, he is carrying Orellana’s body trying to restore his heartbeat.

Josh Franklin, an attorney from St. Paul, stopped for a moment in the middle of First Avenue to admire the large “Go Lynx” text painted on the street. He thinks the timing of the team’s success is beneficial to the city, mentioning it would be the first professional championship in Minnesota since before the pandemic, and the unrest following the murder of George Floyd.

“Seeing this here … in 2024 just really gives an entirely new feeling to the city, bringing back togetherness,” Franklin said.

Minneapolis City Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw attended Tuesday night’s game with fellow Council Member Andrea Jenkins. Vetaw believes there’s more confidence in the Lynx’s chances this year given their past success.

“We got hyped up about the Timberwolves, but there’s a little bit more certainty in this,” Vetaw said.

In interviews with fans leaving the arena and others who watched at the Minneapolis women’s sports bar A Bar of Their Own, most said they had started following the team closely in the past several years. The popularity of Indiana rookie guard Caitlin Clark has brought new attention to women’s basketball. But some have been watching for much longer.

“I always thought women’s sports were popular, I think everybody just kind of joined the bandwagon,” said Crystal Ruiz, a season-ticket holder.

CBRE, which marketed the property, declined to comment on the sale.

Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, said while the low sales prices might sound alarming, there are bright spots. Homeowners in the city are facing a few tough years of property tax increases as commercial values drop, he acknowledged. But the lower prices have also enabled new players to buy downtown properties, paving the way for fresh ideas to transform the urban core.

“Hopefully, they come into the market with a certain kind of energy and optimism that helps drive the market back up,” he said, adding public safety improvements have also fueled recent momentum.

Take the Kickernick Building, which recently opened an art gallery. Earlier this year, Twin Cities-based United Properties sold the historic former warehouse on the edge of the CBD for $3.79 million. In 2017, United paid $19.5 million for the building.

Just a couple blocks away, Tom McCarver and Steve Boynton bought a mixed-use, nearly 31,000-square-foot building at the corner of Seventh Street and Hennepin Avenue that most recently housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. Last month, they paid about $4.3 million, slightly more than half of what it sold for in November 2017.

After the restaurant closed during the pandemic, the building went into receivership and up for auction. McCarver and Boynton, executives at a company that owns billboards across the metro, were among nearly a dozen bidders. They won the auction in March, but because of “legal hurdles,” the sale didn’t close until last month.