Ralph Tully of Strong, Strong, Tully and Crouch. Ltd., was the 36th MAC president, followed by Mike O’Connor, vice-president of Diversified Energies, Inc., then Dale Braddock, president of Innovative Construction Services. In 1980 the MAC Fishing Club was born, and on April 6, 1982, the Minnesota Twins played their first game in the indoor Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, six blocks from the clubhouse.

On October 20, 1983, the MAC broke ground for an athletic addition designed to complement and expand the athletic facilities built in 1975. With construction and opening of the addition in August 1984, the club finally utilized all of the property acquired in 1967. It introduced much-needed handball/racquetball courts, an exercise and weight room, aerobics area, new pro shop and the popular new MAC Deli. December 1983 saw the opening of a newly remodeled Top of the MAC.

Richard Murlowski, management counselor, John Seiff, president of S & M Company, and Gerald Carlson, president of the Bureau of Engraving, were the next MAC presidents. In 1984, Travelers Insurance Company acquired all property on the clubhouse block except for the MAC and WCCO. Travelers proposed a block redevelopment to include razing the clubhouse and housing the MAC in a proposed Travelers high-rise. After intense study, the Board, with Gerald Carlson presiding, voted on October 23, 1984, not to recommend MAC participation to the members, citing loss of identity (the MAC would have faced Third not Second avenue), loss of hotel rooms and Top of the MAC view, questions about financing, very high costs and time pressure.

After the Travelers proposal was voted down, club leaders gave full energy to improving the existing building, and MAC President Richard Curtin, of the Briggs and Morgan law firm, announced in October 1985 “one of the largest and most dramatic remodeling projects in the history of the club.” That year, too, board member Carl M. “Bud” William was asked to form the Senior Member Committee. Cliff Sommer became its first chairman. Sally O. Swanson, vice-president of First Bank Minneapolis, became the first woman elected to the MAC Board of Directors, reflecting the increasingly important role that women play in club life.

Improvement work began in April 1986 and was completed with great speed for the November 11-12 Open House that year. The traditional elegance of the lobby had been restored by raising the ceiling to its 1915 height and installing chandeliers and mahogany paneling. A grand staircase was constructed from the lobby to the second floor, where the entirely new Main Dining Room and new MAC Pub were completed. Two sets of new etched-glass main-entrance doors were put in place. Work on the third elevator was finished. The Reading Room/Library was moved from the 12th floor to a quiet, comfortable area, its walls lined with portraits of past MAC presidents, next to the main floor lobby. The well-known trophy case, constructed from the wood of an oak tree that grew on the lot where the clubhouse now stands, was moved from the Library/Reading Room to the Bowling Lanes area on the fifth floor. These improvements marked the completion of the club’s long-range plan began in 1984. The total cost came to approximately $5,000,000.

Ernie Lindstrom, head of the law firm that bears his name, was president in October 1987, when the Minnesota Twins won the World Series. The club did record business that glorious week, and most Minneapolitans turned out to wave their “Homer Hankies” one more time for the Twins victory parade. Dale Lindquist, president of Sterling Electric Company, succeeded Lindstrom as MAC president.