Foundation Laid For New Members Sons Of Norway Begins Building Apartment Complex

Anna Aspaas celebrates her 95th birthday Aug. 1, but she still can put on a hard hat and pour concrete.

On Tuesday afternoon, Aspaas pulled the lever on a truck that spilled concrete into an L-shaped footing for the Sons of Norway’s new apartment complex for people over age 55.

When Aspaas was finished, the left shoulder of her white shirt was spattered with drops of concrete.

“I have to keep it, so I will remember what I did,” she said in a lilting Norwegian accent.

For Aspaas, Tuesday’s construction ended a four-year wait.

The fraternal organization decided in 1991 to build the 54-unit Viking Plass complex, just north of its Tordenskjold Lodge at 6710 N. Country Homes Blvd. The new complex will ensure good neighbors for the lodge, help community relations and also provide new members.

Already, 20 units have been snapped up by Sons of Norway such as Aspaas and future Sons.

Many of those buyers have been waiting three years to move in. The Sons hit roadblocks - financing and red tape, including building permits. The organization still has to cough up $9,335 more for its building permit, according to the city’s Construction Services Department.

The Sons of Norway has already paid more than $10,000 toward the permit to get an early start on construction.

“We’ve been at it so long, a lot of people don’t believe us,” said Lloyd Magnuson, chairman of the building committee for the Sons of Norway and a past president.

Aspaas is a doubter.

“She keeps telling me, ‘You better get it done or I might not make it,”’ Magnuson said.

The units run from $46,000 to $130,000, and 85 percent of the cost is refundable if the residents have to leave. Construction should be finished in 90 days.

Future residents are slightly skeptical. Most haven’t put their homes up for sale.

“I’m not going to sell it until I know this is finished,” said Velma Rose, secretary/treasurer of the building corporation and a member of the Sons since 1943.

Residents of the new complex will get automatic membership in the Sons of Norway - if they don’t already belong. The complex is expected to increase attendance at monthly meetings next door.

“Our attendance is not really great,” Magnuson said. “The lodge isn’t used enough. It’s a big lodge, and it’ll be real quality apartments.”

The lodge now has about 800 members, but attracts at most 75 people a meeting. New residents will get more than meetings, however.

There will be a central dining area and a courtyard. The residents will be able to play pool, cards or bingo in the lodge, and they’ll be able to pump iron in an exercise area.

They’ll be just next door for the annual lutefisk dinner and the dinner dances held at the lodge twice a month in the winter. The replica of a Viking ship will be visible from windows facing south.

The $4.4 million building will be L-shaped, with a terra cotta bottom and a dark green top. It will have a sloping roof.

About 20 members of the Sons of Norway sat in the shade and stood in the sun Tuesday afternoon watching Aspaas work heavy construction equipment.

“I’ve got a big head,” Aspaas told construction workers when they tried to put a hard hat on her.

Like Aspaas, Anna Marie and Merle Kinder bought into the complex three years ago and look forward to moving. They sat in the shade and met some of their future neighbors.

“My husband is tired of yard work,” said Anna Marie Kinder, 79. “I’m tired of cooking. “I’ve been cooking 70 years. That’s enough.”

She’s Danish, but you don’t have to be Scandinavian to move into the complex or become a Son of Norway.

“Most anyone can join,” Magnuson said. “It’s just voted on by the membership. We’ve got some Chinese people that are members. We’ve got a lot of Italians. We just like to have good members.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo; Map of planned complex area