New Ulm City Manager Chris Dalton believes New Ulm’s greatest source of progress in 2024 and 2025 is housing. He cited multiple developments on the rise within the next year, but said housing shortages would remain a challenge.

NEW ULM – Going into 2025, City Manager Chris Dalton sees community growth and housing as New Ulm’s greatest source of progress.

Dalton said in terms of population, New Ulm is growing. The community is seeing some of its strongest growth in recent years, but this not seen in terms of new households. Instead, the number of people per household is on the rise. This means an increase in families.

Dalton said this is a positive improvement because with more people, the community benefit economically, but also the school district receives greater funding as student enrollment increases. However, as the city grows, housing must grow with it. New Ulm has had a housing shortage for a number of years. For this reason Dalton believe the biggest projects in the next year are housing developments.

“The biggest milestone of last year and this year is the demolition of George’s Ballroom,” Dalton said. “Its removal will make room for more housing in the downtown core.”

An apartment project is planned to be built on the site of the former ballroom. Construction could begin this year with a completion date expected by fall 2026. This is not the only housing project expected to begin within the next year. A development off Highland Avenue called River Haven is in development. The project was previously called Hope Housing but the name was changed after a new developer took over. River Haven will feature a mixture of rental apartments and homes for sale.

“We are just in the process of finalizing a state deferred loan for $950,000 to help with the construction of [River Haven],” Dalton said.

The River Haven project could see groundwork begin this spring or fall.

There is also a housing project in the works at the former Marktplatz Mall site, but this project was pushed back to apply for grants. Dalton said the former mall is hoping to apply for the next Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) grant cycle in August.

All three of these housing projects are staggered with one coming along after the other. Dalton is confident the housing demand is great enough to fill them up as the developments are completed.

Outside of housing, Dalton said New Ulm had a big year for federal grants. The city was awarded two congressional direct spending grants. The first was for the creation of the crosswind runway at the airport and the 18th South Street lift station.

Assuming federal funding is not frozen, the city could begin work on the lift station project this year. The crosswind runway will be a multi-year project. The city will need to acquire land before construction can begin.

These two infrastructure projects will improve safety in New Ulm, but also will not increase local taxes since the funds are coming from a federal source.

In 2024, the city completed its strategic plan after years of development. The plan will be used as a roadmap for the city on which projects should be implemented and when. Dalton said in 2025, the city will focus on the smaller parts of the strategic plans. The higher cost projects will wait until 2026 to give the city time to budget.

He said one of the main points of the strategic plan was to help with budgeting. The strategic plan can be viewed on the city’s website. Dalton said it is a living document that can be adjusted as projects are completed.

Another important project completed in the last year was the roundabout at Highway 14 and Highland Avenue. Dalton said this intersection was a safety concern for years and was prone to heavy traffic at the end of the school day. Dalton said the roundabout was finished relatively quickly, and traffic has already improved on the north end of town.

The city was hoping to add electric buses to the Hermann Express route, but the city is still waiting on delivery of the two buses. Dalton said the buses will probably arrive in 2026 and 2027. Once the buses arrive, the Hermann Express route will be changed to two separate half-hour routes that meet in the middle of New Ulm to allow for transfers. This will make it easier for people to use the bus for daily commutes. Dalton expected ridership to increase, but said the bus line is already used more than bus routes in similar sized communities.

One of the more colorful changes coming to New Ulm in the next year is potential cannabis based businesses. State law will allowed cannabis and hemp businesses to operate in Minnesota. New Ulm is in the progress of updating zoning and licensing to allow cannabis retail business. There is at least one cannabis retail business in the planning stages.

It is unknown how much demand there is in New Ulm for cannabis based businesses. Dalton expected New Ulm could probably support two cannabis retail businesses. It is still up to the city council to determine how many cannabis licenses will be issued for the city.

Looking ahead to next year, Dalton said New Ulm’s greatest challenges are still housing and child care shortages. He said the two go together and are fundamental to retaining employers.

“We complete with other cities,” Dalton said. “If other cities have housing and child care we could lose employers.”

For this reason, he believed business retention was more important than attracting new businesses. New Ulm is actively communicating with local businesses to determine what they need to stay in operation.

At the same time, Dalton is optimistic about New Ulm’s future due to internal and external support.

“New Ulm’s greatest assessment is there is a lot of investment in our community,” he said “I think people see the potential in New Ulm and are willing to take a risk and invest in the community.”

Dalton said the George’s Ballroom housing development and River Haven housing development are both outside investments. Multiple developers see New Ulm as a place for progress.

“There is a spotlight on us,” he said. “I think New Ulm is getting out there as a place to invest.”