By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The New York Mills community has been watching the development of the South Point Addition since it was initially purchased from the Elna Tumberg family in 2018. The city later annexed the Newtonville neighborhood (also called Toonerville) of Newton township to add to this addition and most recently sold a five acre parcel to South Point Apartments, LLC in September 2022 for the construction of a $10 million, 60-unit apartment building.  ¶  W. Gohman Construction, based out of St. Cloud, Minn., broke ground on the property located at what is now known as 602 South Point Drive on October 26, 2023 with members from the NY Mills City Council, Economic Development Authority, and Otter Tail County in attendance to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony.

With a 12-month anticipated date of opening, construction began in earnest, but with the season’s first snow coming the very next day and an unseasonably snowless and rainy winter, the construction crew had a tough time deciphering what to do with the curveballs that Mother Nature continued to send their way. Michael Gohman, property owner, commented that he anticipated a Dec. 1, 2024 opening date for the project. When that date came almost two months ago, the project was on time and the first residents moved in to their new homes.

“We opened for business December 1,” said Gohman. “We’re still dealing with a few odds and ends as they come, but until we have people living in units, there’s always little things we find, but the building became ready for occupancy on December 1.”

With 10 residents as of last Thursday, property manager Marsha Vandermay still anticipates a few residents who have approved applications to make the move in the near future. While only a sixth of the building’s capacity is filled, Michael Gohman and his wife, Nancy, expect the apartments to start to fill up by the end of spring.

“The time of year we opened is tough,” said Gohman. “Everything through the holidays its a little bit slower, so we expect in the next couple of months that things will pick up.”

The 60 units in the building include a mixture of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments ranging in price from $1,205 to $1,520 a month. There are four three-bedroom apartments and then an almost equal amount of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments available throughout the building.

“We have a couple one-bedrooms with a den,” explained Gohman. “There’s a few different sizes within each of those and a couple variations of floor plans for different one-bedroom and two-bedrooms. There are some tuck under garage parking and then some detached parking as well as surface parking in the lot.”

The apartment building is complete with a fitness center, community room, outdoor grill area and a children’s playground located out front. Patio furniture will complete the outdoor grill area once spring arrives and landscaping will also be completed once the weather warms up.

“We’re very happy,” said Gohman, “This project took a little longer to get started than some due to pricing changing in the economy and interest rates going up and everything, so to get it done and complete is great. To see units being occupied is fantastic and by the end of spring I expect we’ll probably be full. We’re already getting a couple of applications or inquiries a week for the building, which is good to see.

“I think for any community to thrive you need to grow and this opens up the opportunity for a lot of good quality housing that hopefully attracts people to New York Mills and helps the community thrive and grow,” he continued. “Tied to that, a lot of our projects we’ve in the past, it’s allowed some of the more senior members of the community an option of a place to move to that allows them to stay connected and in touch with the community, which I think is key to some of the smaller towns and being able to stay local.”

Nancy Gohman said that their open houses, which began in late August were well attended and cultivated a lot of positive buzz around the new facility.

“During the first two open houses, I think that probably half of New York Mills probably went through there,” she laughed. “It was a lot of people, it was nonstop. And they may not be good candidates for renters now, but they might be later on or they might talk to somebody that might need housing, so at least they have an idea of what’s there, what there is to offer. It’s always good for people to get exposed to something new. It was all very positive, all of the people who came to see it were impressed.”

For those interested in finding out more about the apartments, they can visit www.ihnproperties.com where they can search “New York Mills” into the search bar to find all the relevant information on the South Point Apartments. From apartment size, floor layout, pricing, and amenities, everything can be found on the website. Nancy also said that those who want to live on a certain floor can even pick out their apartment by unit number, allowing them to have the ultimate choice in where they want to live.

Alongside the perks of the community spaces in the building, basic amenities include a washer and dryer, large closets, patio or balcony, refrigerator, air conditioning, dishwasher and efficient appliances. The IHN Properties management website breaks down each question a prospective resident might have and ends with a final promise:

“At South Point Apartments, we don’t just offer a place to live—we provide a community to thrive in. Welcome home.”