Staff photo by Fritz Busch A small part of George's Ballroom can still be seen in this photo taken on Center Street.
NEW ULM – Most of George's Ballroom is gone, but last month it didn't happen without a fight.
After years of discussions about what to do with the building, heavy machinery pounded on the Art Deco building for days. Other machines were used to keep the dust down. Large trucks transported much of the demolition rubble.
The demolition process was fully documented online by New Ulm nonprofit Big Ideas Inc.
Parts of the foundation, large chunks of concrete, pipes and roots remain on the site at the corner of Zentrum and Deutsche Straße.
The memories of decades of dancing to the music of Lawrence Welk, the Andrew's Sisters, Glenn Miller, the Six Fat Dutchmen, Whoopie John and many others will live on for a long time. The memories of bowling, eating and drinking won't go away anytime soon.
Architectural Rendering The concept design shows the Center Street side of the new building, taking into account the elevation difference from the alley to German Street.
“The rubble should be gone by mid-January. I plan to contact the developers in the next week for status updates. “The plan is to begin construction in late spring or early summer.” said New Ulm City Manager Chris Dalton.
Signage and some other parts of the building will be incorporated into a new $20 million building with 80 to 90 apartments and 15,000 square feet of commercial space. Underground parking and more than a dozen electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are planned, according to Dain Fisher, managing director of Mankato-based Coldwell Banker Fisher Group.
Construction is scheduled to begin this spring. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.
“We have finalized our agreements with our architectural firm and will release architectural drawings in the next few months.” Fisher said.
“We will work to incorporate signs and other building relics into the new design. It was a fun project. We know exactly what the building will look like and we will show it to the public.” he said.
Fisher said the public has provided a lot of feedback on the project. Ideas included what to do with the large outdoor sign “George’s Ballroom.”
Fisher said the sign was transported to Mankato for renovation.
Another public feedback suggestion was to create new building spaces to commemorate the building's past as a ballroom. Other ideas for commercial space included a grocery store, a bike shop and a pharmacy.
“I'm really enjoying this project. We received a lot of public feedback and will use it together with the architects to develop the final concept. It was really a great experience all around. I really can’t say it enough,” he said.
Fisher said future New Ulm projects could be developed further north on Minnesota Street.
“That’s the big picture in my head. George's begins. The chime on Fourth North is our destination. We’re going to look at all of these stretches over the next 10 to 15 years and see what positive impact we can have on downtown.” he told the New Ulm Chamber's Hot Topics group last year.