Photo by Clay Schuldt City Center Project developer Jim Kretsch stands in the Geometric apartment in the newly renovated Oswald Annex during an open house Friday. The annex is part of the City Center Apartments project that Kretsch built.

NEW ULM — An open house event was held for the Oswald Annex Friday.

The Oswald Annex is the new name for the old Oswald building located next to the City Center Apartments in downtown New Ulm.

The old Oswald building is physically connected to the City Center Apartments.

After the apartments were completed in 2018, the lower level of the Oswald building was repurposed into an exercise space, but the second floor remained unused.

At that time, City Center Project developer Jim Kretsch hoped to repurpose the second floor into apartment space. Now, two years later, the project is complete and is now called the Oswald Annex.

The second floor is divided into two apartment spaces. The larger of the two apartments have been rented to Judith and Glenn Zerbe. The Zerbes had a hand in determining the layout of the apartment.

Judith Zerbe said the idea was to maintain the outer shape of the building and keep as much of the original structure as possible. The unique shape of the structure remains the same. The replacement windows are the same design as the original but made from a different material.

The old Oswald building, which had housed a dry-cleaning business, had an old vault that was used to store expensive fur coats. Judith said the vault is still technically part of the building, but a kitchen unit is located in front of the vault entrance.

The other apartment is being called the Geometric Room because all the light features have a different shape. The apartment has straight lines in the bathroom, a circle above the dining room table, rectangles in the kitchen, and waves over the stairs.

Kretch said the Geometric Room is for short-term and long-term rental and is not age-restricted like the City Center Apartments. Kretch said space could be rented on a weekly basis.

It would be perfect for a person in between homes or had recently moved to New Ulm for work. Space also can be rented by individuals visiting family at City Center Apartments.

The open house helped showcase the possibilities when re-purposing older buildings in downtown New Ulm.

“I hope this encourages others to do the same with other buildings downtown,” Judith Zerbe said. “I think if you can show people what they can do with old buildings it could result in downtown revitalization.”