County, City agree on game plan for ballroom

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The City of New Ulm is going to have at least six months to find a potential buyer for George's Ballroom, and it will have the blessing of Brown County commissioners as it proceeds.

City and county officials met late Friday morning in the commissioners' room at the Brown County Courthouse to talk about possible ways to deal with the aging edifice.

They came to a mutual agreement that the city is going to use its time to find a developer while Brown County holds the building from public auction. New Ulm will have an additional two months by state statute even if it doesn't find what it is looking for. City manager Brian Grametz said the council is going to draft a resolution formally asking the county for an extension to April 6.

If a developer agrees to work with the property, the city would buy George's from Brown County for $1 and sell it to the developer with the condition that either restoration, renovation or redevelopment take place.

The person or organization who does agree to develop the property is facing a potential price tag of about $200,000-$300,000 for demolition. Estimated market value for the seven lots that George's rests on is about $235,100. The cost of restoration hasn't even been discussed, but officials in both governments say they think it could easily climb into the millions.

George's Ballroom will go back into county hands if New Ulm's efforts don't succeed, and county officials indicated they would likely put it back on the auction block. If it fails there, the 56-year old former dancehall, bar and bowling alley could likely face demolition.

County commissioners toured the ballroom with officials from the auditor-treasurer's office and a couple interested people from the Brown County Historical Society earlier that morning.

The tour was the last stop on a two-building jaunt in downtown New Ulm, where commissioners made short inspection tours of buildings recently taken over by the county to recover unpaid taxes. Commissioners also went through a building at 2 S. Minnesota Street -- a property also on the county auction block that is just up Center Street from the George's Ballroom.

They brought with them Kristine Kujala, supervisor of tax forfeited land for Ramsey County. Assistant Auditor-Treasurer Jean Prochniak said she and Kujala have been in contact with each other for months. Kujala came to the meeting to serve as an advisor and to see the ballroom. She told commissioners that there is some interest in George's in the Twin Cities, but wasn't specific about details.

"I think they're extremely lucky to have that property," Kujala said after the meeting finished. "What I love about tax-forfeited property is you get stuff like this. However, the city and the county have a huge challenge ahead of them."

And it was dealing with that challenge that brought representatives of the two governments together at the meeting table.

New Ulm city councilors had decided Thursday to ask the county for more time after meeting and deciding that seeking more time and a private developer is the best road to take. The decision appeared to be driven by the high cost of redevelopment or demolition, which the city would have to pay for entirely if it bought the building.

Councilors said they received several phone calls and pieces of mail about the ballroom, some urging support for preservation, others warning not to get involved at all.

Brown County commissioners, too, were concerned about the repair estimates done on the building and tax assessments levied against the property.

Commissioners echoed city councilors when they said the landmark, long remembered as a Saturday night gathering spot, would eventually face the wrecking ball. But again, commissioners were skeptical about the costs of doing so. Officials from the two groups also discovered they share each other's concerns about selling the building to someone who won't do anything with it.

Prochniak told commissioners that allowing the city to work with the ballroom has advantages over leaving it to the county because city laws allow more leverage in how the property is developed. Prochniak said the ballroom did, in fact, attract some potential developers in the past while George's was still in private hands, but none of the offers they made materialized.

"I think it's too bad it's in the condition that it's in, and certainly we're looking for opportunities for development," said commissioner Charles Guggisberg. "But I think the possibility of restoring it as an entertainment center is probably slim."

Before the meeting ended, Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Marlin Helget wished city officials luck and thanked them for taking the building off the county's hands -- at least for now.