The former armory is at 205 N. Broadway and the former field maintenance shop is at 1523 S. Washington Street.

Late last year, the construction of a new Minnesota National Guard Armory in New Ulm was completed. The new armory was built adjacent to a new National Guard field maintenance shop that was completed in Oct. 2022.

The National Guard vacated the former facilities with plans to sell the sites. During the work session New Ulm City Manager Chris Dalton told the council they have the right of first refusal for both properties. If the city requested to purchase the old armory and old field maintenance shop the purchase cost would be $1 for each.

Dalton said it was not a package deal. The council choose to purchase one of the facilities and not the other. He favored purchasing the field maintenance shop because multiple city departments could use the space, but Dalton was not certain if the city needed the former armory.

The New Ulm City Council could acquire the former National Guard Armory building at 205 N. Broadway for $1, but cannot find any obvious use for the facility.

He said the city could purchase the armory and sell it to a private entity at a lower cost later. However, the city would need to cover the building expenses until they found a new buyer.

City Councilor Larry Mack said he toured the old armory building a few years ago and believed it would be a big undertaking for anyone to take over the facility.

“I would rather see it go to the private sector,” he said.

Councilor Tom Schmitz said he supported purchasing both buildings. With the field maintenance shop, Schmitz saw the potential to utilize the facility for a multiple city departments. He believed the different departments could begin using the building the moment the city took possession.

For the armory, Schmitz admitted he could not think of a civic use for the building, but he supported the city purchasing it to maintain control over it.

Mayor Kathleen Backer said she was heartily in support of purchasing the field maintenance shop, but believed the city should avoid taking over the former armory long-term.

She said if the city had no plan for the armory, it could be a difficult thing to maintain, but she liked the idea of buying the property for $1 and passing it on to a developer at a low cost.

She said the savings could be an incentive for a developer to further invest in the property.

Council President Andrea Boettger also wanted to purchase the field maintenance shop because the city was short on space and different departments could utilize it immediately. She was willing to purchase the armory for resale to a developer, but asked the council if they were willing to let a developer tear the building down and build new instead of fixing it.

Schmitz said he would like to see the armory repurposed, but said if that is not possible and it had to be razed, he would be in support of that as long as it followed regulations for historic sites.

New Ulm Building Official Ellwood Zabel confirmed the old armory is on the National Registry of Historical Places and is on New Ulm’s historical register. This would create two hurdles for developers to go through before the building could be demolished.

However, Zabel said a similar situation occurred with the former armory building in Winona. In that scenario, the front facade of the building was kept, with a new building constructed behind the facade.

“Really it is the facade that is the contributing factor to this whole thing,” Zabel said.

As this was a work session, no official decision was made, but Dalton said the consensus was the city wanted the field maintenance shop and had some additional questions about what could be done with the armory.

Dalton confirmed the field maintenance shop could be used by the city immediately. He recommended storing some snowplows at the site. During a snow emergency plow drivers could report to the south side location. The New Ulm Fire Department could also place vehicles at this location with additional storage space for other departments.

“There are a lot of different things we could do with that building starting day one,” Dalton said. “Almost every department in the city could use it.”