At 4:21 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13 New Ulm Fire Department (NUFD) received a fire call at the former Marktplatz mall. Assistant Fire Chief Aaron Wilfahrt said upon arrival there was heavy smoke coming out of the mall roof.

It was determined the fire had started in a storefront immediately north of the mall’s main entrance. Firefighters extinguished the fire within 90 minutes and contained it to the northwest section of the mall. The entire mall sustained smoke damaged. Some of buildings adjacent to the mall experienced smoke infiltration and required ventilation, but no injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is was not immediately apparent. The State Fire Marshal was called to conduct an investigation into the cause of the fire. Wilfahrt said the NUFD, State Fire Marshal and New Ulm Police Department are working on the investigation. Security camera footage is being collected from area businesses to determine when and how the fire began.

Access to the building is restricted. The public is asked not to cross emergency tape. The mall is also considered private property. Trespassers could be prosecuted for entering the building without authorization.

Fire tape stretches across the southern entrance to Marktplatz Mall. A fire damanged the northwest section of the building and causing smoke damage throughout the building. The former mall has sat empty since 2018. Despite the fire and smoke damage to the buidling, property owner Eric Bode has said plans to redevelop the mall into apartments will go forward.

Marktplatz Mall has been closed as a retail space since 2018 after the Herberger’s store was liquidated. The building sat empty for nearly six years. In April 2020, EBMD LLC purchased two of the three mall parcels. In Sept. 2023, the city of New Ulm approved the sale of the final center section of Marktplatz mall to EBMD LLC. With the entire building owned by one entity, development talks began. EBMD LLC expressed interest in redeveloping the mall for apartments.

Eric Bode, co-owner of the Marktplatz mall property, said the damage caused by the fire will make for a messy cleanup, but the apartment plan is still in place.

“We were going to gut the interior anyway,” Bode said. “The structure was not damaged.”

The original plan was to begin reconstruction on the mall property in 2025. Once construction began, it would be between 18 and 24 months before the apartments were finished. Bode said the plan was to build 60 to 90 apartments.

The fire could delay some of the development project. Bode confirmed costs have likely increased because of the fire damage, but said there are contractors who specialize in smoke damage.

Bode said any immediate planning would need to wait until after the State Fire Marshal had completed the investigation.