Staff photo by Clay Schuldt From the lobby of the City Center Apartments, Jim Kretsch thanks for those who made this project possible. Residents are expected to begin moving into the units next week.

NEW ULM — A special VIP open house event was held at the finished City Center Apartments Saturday afternoon.

Guests at the event were able to explore the building from the garage basement to the third floor balconies.

Project developer Jim Kretsch invited several of the individuals to speak who had a hand in the project.

Mike Brennan with Brennan Construction spoke about the work that went City Center Projects. He compared the construction crews to the postal service. He said they worked through heavy snow and extreme rain in order to bring this project in on time.

Bjorn Freudenthal with Puustelli Scandinavian Kitchen Design was on hand to talk about the entire design of the apartment kitchen units. Freudenthal said his company is very strong on ecological construction. All the kitchen cabinets are made from recyclable material and harmful chemicals, such as formaldehyde are removedfrom the manufacturing.

In addition, the cabinets are made from a strong furniture style material that will not warp as easily as particle board.

Ceramic sheets cover the counter top that is resistant to extreme heat and has a 20-year scratch warranty.

Those touring the City Center Apartments were impressed with the space and were confident the new units would draw active seniors downtown.

“I think once New Ulm sees what is in here I think they’ll be really happy,” City Councilor Charlie Schmitz said.

Longtime New Ulm resident George Glotzbach said if they had these apartments when he first moved back to New Ulm he would have signed a lease on a unit.

Kretsch thanked everyone involved for making this project possible. He said his goal was to create a strong community of seniors to downtown New Ulm.

For more information on City Center Apartments, see Lifestyle section.