Staff photo by Clay Schuldt The former New Ulm Middle School came a step closer to becoming the State Street Apartments when the sale of the building to Community Housing Development Corporation closed.

NEW ULM — After several months of planning the Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) closed last Saturday on the purchase of the old middle school on State Street.

The new owners of the building will be moving forward with the plan to convert a portion of the old middle school campus into the State Street Apartments while the State Street Theater Company (SSTC) will continue to run the theater portion of the building.

Originally the building was split between the SSTC and CentraSota with the understanding CentraSota would be responsible for paying the utilities.

CentraSota had planned to build a 50 to 55 apartments in the historic building, but ran into funding problems shortly after taking over the building. CentraSota failed to make utility pavements forcing a shut of electricity to the entire building including the SSTC side.

Last spring, CentraSota agreed to sell the future apartments to CHDC. With Friday’s closing CHDC has now officially taking over the housing side of the project and is currently funding the utilities for the entire building.

SSTC Capital Campaign volunteer, Mary Ellen Domeier said the theater is excited about the purchase. The closing means the two organizations can begin collaborating on projects. The first collaboration will be to separate the utilities between the buildings.

Domeier said CHDC is a very reputable organization their evolvement will insure the historic middle school campus remains in good hands.

At this time there is no official schedule for when CHDC will begin construction on the State Street Apartment, but no work is expected until at least spring.