New 60-unit apartment building located in South Point

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

A much anticipated start to the South Point Apartment building took place last Thursday, Oct. 26 as New York Mills City Council members and staff were joined by representatives from Otter Tail County as well as developer, Michael Gohman, to break ground on the 60-unit apartment building. The project, which will come in with just over a $10 million price tag, has been in the works for the past year and a half.

“This is a very exciting day for NY Mills,” said Betsy Roder in an address to everyone present at the ceremony. “I’m happy to be here representing both the CDA (Community Development Agency) and the City of NY Mills. There’s a lot of great work happening all across the county and particularly, here in NY Mills that we’re really proud of.”

Roder went on to thank the developer W. Gohman Construction for investing in the project and the community, as well as the city staff and council who have continued to work towards making the apartment building a reality. She also thanked the school district and county for their respective parts in the process.

“It’s really been a great partnership between the city, the county, the developer and the school district,” said Roder. “We all needed to work together to make this happen and we have a long tradition of doing that in NY Mills and I think that is something we can all be really proud of.

“This really is a project that is launching a new development area here in NY Mills, in South Point, and I love that we can be part of this positive narrative of growth in a rural area,” she continued. “Our population has gone from 1,000 when I was growing up here to 1,200 when I moved back in 2011 and we’re now at 1,300 and we’re building a 60-unit apartment building starting today. I would say we’re on the up-and-up. Our positive narrative is that we are growing here in NY Mills, we’re growing here in Otter Tail County, and I think that we can all tell that story and be really happy about it.”

The creation of the South Point Addition has been a process, starting in 2018 when the City of NY Mills purchased 80 acres from the Elna Tumberg family for development. The recent annexation of the Newtonville neighborhood further paved the way for an official name and status for the addition.

South Point Apartments, LLC was incorporated in August 2022 in Saint Cloud, Minn. and soon after purchased five acres of land in the South Point Addition from the City of NY Mills with plans of developing it into an apartment building to meet the needs of a growing population and to help alleviate the lack of available housing in the city.

Michael Gohman, president of W. Gohman Construction (headquartered in St. Joseph, Minn.) is the developer putting up the apartment building and was present at the groundbreaking to speak to his vision of the project.

“We’re building a 60-unit apartment building with one, two and three bedroom units,” he said. “It will be for the workforce housing, it’s market rate. The backside of the garage area will be tuck-under garages plus there will be some detached garages. We have a fitness center, community center, some outdoor grilling/entertainment area that will be part of it.”

Gohman commented that an anticipated opening date is still up in the air as the next few months of construction will help determine that date.

“It’s roughly a 12-month schedule,” he said. “Because of the time of year we’re starting here, it might easily be a December 1, 2024 opening for the building. Once we get three to four months in, see how everything goes getting everything framed up and with the weather and everything else, that will help define the exact opening date.”

The project originally began when Gohman started talking with Otter Tail County about the possibility of bringing a 50 to 60 unit apartment building into one of the county’s communities. Before long, they realized that NY Mills was a good fit for their needs and a plan materialized to utilize land in the newly created South Point Addition.

“We’re excited to be doing this project,” said Gohman. “I think it’s going to be great for the community, we are happy to be a part of it and have enjoyed the help and support we have received from the different government units. It took a year longer than I anticipated, but I’m glad we’re here.”

Amy Baldwin, Community Development Director for Otter Tail County, was also present to give her thoughts on the project and what it means for Otter Tail County as a whole.

“This new project in NY Mills will bring much-needed housing to support our employers as they are working to recruit new workforce into the community and provide a housing option that doesn’t exist currently in NY Mills with the amenities that will be offered with this project,” she said. “As we continue to work toward additional housing growth throughout the county, this is a good example of partners working together bringing their shared resources to make a project come to reality.”