Lack of financing has killed a proposal to build a 60-unit apartment complex on this block between 16th and 17th N. and Garden and Payne. The landowner, Vern Walden, now plans to build 20 townhouses there.

Last May, a Minneapolis development firm announced plans to build the apartments in the block between 16th and 17th N. and Garden and Payne and secured vacation of the alley from the City Council. Construction was projected to start in late summer and be complete by next spring.

Walden told the Journal Monday that lack of financing had killed the apartment idea and he is now working on getting an FHA loan to build townhouse units himself. This had been his original plan before he got together with the Minneapolis firm. The Minneapolis firm is now out of the picture, he said.

“Apartments would kill you in taxes,” he told the Journal, noting that with townhouses the owner of each townhouse can claim homestead tax benefits.

If the townhouses went up, they would be the first such units in New Ulm, although they have proven popular in the last few years in the Twin Cities area and nationwide.

The land shown in the accompanying photo was cleared last spring, including the block in question and a half block across Payne Street. The roadway (Payne) is cut to grade and sewer and water are in.

Walden said he will put in seven houses in the half block across Payne now and continue working on financing for the townhouse development. He said the townhouse construction wouldn’t start until next year at the earliest.

New Ulm Daily Journal

Sept. 20, 1974