urbanMSP

Hey I know that New Ulm really shouldn't have it's own section because it's so tiny, but it really is a very unique city as it hasn't followed traditional sprawly development (as much as some)

Anyway, I suggest you check it out. They have two new apt. buildings coming to town both of them right downtown. Architecturally speaking they're kind of... meh... but Density is density I guess.

http://citycenterapartmentsmn.com/

https://www.facebook.com/newulmfineliving

The other one doesn't have a website up yet, but it's going to be located at the corner of 3rd North and German Street.

Maybe we should move there and build better urbanism.

It's a dream of mine to create an urban wonderland that's only accessible by public transportation systems

New Ulm has some fabulous parks. There's Hermann Heights of course, and who could forget Hermann the German? But for pure beauty German Park has got to have one of the best examples of a public formal garden in the state. It has a monument to the original German settler families and it was fun to find my own family there.

For a town its size, New Ulm has an amazing number of parks. I would say that relatively speaking, its park system rivals that of Minneapolis.

Yeah it has some great parks and it's grid system and trees make it incredibly liveable.

All we need now is a bunch of millenials with money to move there and make it a small town utopia.

Also it's the most ethnically homogenous city in America over 10k people, which I'm sure helps in the planning process.

Hey everyone who would potentially read this.

I'm thinking about putting together a little Urbanist tour of New Ulm for later this summer or this fall. I would love to know if anyone is interested, it's a great little city that has a ton of classical architecture and classic city planning.

Anyone, I would love to see this turn into a series of where people give tours of towns they known tailored to Urbanists.

So is New Ulm proof that Walmart and Menards can get along with traditional downtowns?

Picture of the bridge from last weekend
IMG_7631 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

N.U. Target closing.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... -2016.html

Not sure how a Walmart survives but a Target closes in this state. But one less big box is always a good thing.

Walmart is more 'Murica

There is a nice Target in Mankato that is probably a much larger store. They just have to hope on highway 14 and drive 20 minutes and they are at the River Hills Mall. Walmart does much better in smaller markets. I think that Walmart has stores in just about every county seat. Target need a larger population base to make things work with their more upscale format.

N.U. Target closing.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... -2016.html

Not sure how a Walmart survives but a Target closes in this state. But one less big box is always a good thing.

There's a lot of people that shop at Walmart for groceries. The New Ulm Walmart is a SuperCenter. The Target was just a regular Target, and is now at the "wrong" end of town with no room for expansion unless they wanted build either a two story building or structured parking. To say nothing that Target doesn't do groceries nearly as good as Target. On the rare occasions I've tried to shop at SuperTarget instead of Walmart or Cub it's just about impossible. Their new plan to focus on cute displays isn't going to help the situation.

But I guess people driving to the Mankato Target instead of the New Ulm Target, or shopping at the New Ulm Walmart instead of the New Ulm Target is a good thing.

Walmart also carries many products, and sometimes whole categories of products, that Target doesn't. Craft supplies and home improvement products are good examples of this, among others. There is a lot of overlap, obviously, but they're not identical. And as much as I don't care for the Walmart shopping experience, I will agree that the grocery selection at a Walmart SuperCenter surpasses that of a SuperTarget.

N.U. Target closing.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... -2016.html

Not sure how a Walmart survives but a Target closes in this state. But one less big box is always a good thing.

Matt, this was a dumb comment. Big box stores are not always evil. Was a huge anchor for new ulm and the surrounding rural communities.

So was the downtown retail that preceded it. (Chronicled on the New Ulm Now and Then Facebook page)

Which would still be there had they been economically viable.

So would Target... but target came in made that retail no longer viable and over played it's hand and is now leaving the community high and dry. I totally prefer target over Walmart, but there is no argument that can convince me that big box stores are good for smaller communities (major cities even)

So was the downtown retail that preceded it. (Chronicled on the New Ulm Now and Then Facebook page)

I'm not a huge fan of big box retail, but I grew up in New Ulm in the '80s and '90s and downtown today is at least as full of successful retail establishments as I remember it back then. So, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Most of the pics in the New Ulm Now and Then Pinterest page (I couldn't find one on Facebook) precede the Target (which opened in the late '90s).

To be honest, everyone predicted that downtown would die when Target came and it just didn't happen. New Ulm has been amazingly resilient and seems to have successfully pivoted its downtown focus towards entertainment, specialty shops, and tourists. To listen to my parents talk about it, the downtown is more happening than it has been in years.

The urban core of New Ulm doesn't even have a functioning grocer, though. All that's around for grocery is Hy Vee, Cash Wise, and Walmart. I was excited to see the new co-op at Minnesota and 6th St S, but they aren't open many hours nor did they seem to have a full grocery selection.

And there hasn't been a grocer there for decades...since before I was born (1980). I'm not sure it ever has. According to my father (my family has been in New Ulm since 1854), prior to the large format grocers with massive parking lots they have now (and for as long as I remember), all of the grocers in town were small neighborhood-focused places that disappeared in the 60s and 70s. He says there were something like 20 grocers when he was growing up. As far as I can recall, downtown has been less than thriving since at least the 80s. Like I said above, however, it is actually better now than it was when I was in high school (late 90s).

Downtown is far from perfect, but I dont know where you get off blaming the Target. It is much more complicated than that.