Bonnie Morgan hopes the Malmgren Garage restoration project is finished by the end of the summer in Talent. 

An artistic partnership forged in the 1990s has been re-launched to help rebuild and restore the Almeda Fire-scarred Malmgren Garage in Talent.

When wooden lids recently arrived from her friend, Dave Maize, Bonnie Morgan said she was grateful but amazed.

Maize has had a successful career in custom woodworking over the past 30 years, from unique front doors to acoustic bass guitars for artists like Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. Three decades ago, Maize lived in Talent, where he befriended Morgan, a ceramic artist. The two set out to work on a collaborative project — Morgan would make ceramic jars and Maize would make wooden lids.

Morgan made the jars, but Maize never finished his half of the project until he saw his old friend was struggling to finish reconstructing the historic garage building she almost lost in the Almeda Fire in 2020. Then he fashioned each lid with care from Oregon native hardwoods. Some even from Rogue Valley street trees. He offered to donate the completed project to raise funds for the ongoing restoration at garage along Talent Avenue.

“It just totally blew me away that he would appear out of the blue like that,” Morgan said.

The pair will hold a show for the long-lived collaborative project at Ashland Art Works, 291 Oak Street, for the city’s First Friday event on June 2.

For the garage restoration project, it’s a case of every little bit helps. There is no formal fundraising right now, Morgan said. The rebuild effort began in earnest last fall when she first signed with contractors. Since then, she has had some success with grants, architects and insurance, but the effort continues to yield new surprises and setbacks.

Engineers and architects immediately told Morgan the floor would have to be replaced. What they couldn’t anticipate was the dirt underneath.

“Once they removed the floor, the dirt wouldn’t compact properly to modern standards. So they had to remove it and bring in new fill. That was a $28,000 surprise,” she said.

During the initial size-up, Morgan was told the concrete walls of the building were flame-licked but stable. Then builders started drilling into the top to construct a new roof and concrete “started blowing out,” from the walls. In some ways, she said, these surprises are a natural part of the restoration of an old building built for a different time and purpose.

“Malmgren Garage is not a square building. It has a 17-inch drop from front to back. There’s been a lot more engineering than I ever dreamed,” she said.

But the quirks of age aren’t the end of the garage’s problems. Supply chain disruptions continually create delays — windows were originally quoted at 22 weeks out.

“The electrician wanted to do a certain kind of cabinet for the electricity, and they were two years out. They redesigned it, but then it was $9,000 more,” she said.

Restoring the steppe parapet facade — the iconic feature of the building and its claim to fame and recognition as a historic building with accompanying tax credits — will be costly. A special material is required to shore up that spot on the building, itself costing $35,000. The engineering work to find the solution cost $9,000.

“I’m not used to the big numbers. I’m just trusting the universe it will all work out. It’s going to be a gorgeous building when it’s done. I’m just a sucker for old buildings. I question my sanity sometimes,” she said.

Morgan has been looking at grant applications and other opportunities for funding for over a year. Last year, she received $200,000 from the Main Street Revitalization Grant from the Oregon Main Street Network. Insurance paid out $574,000 for damages from the Almeda Fire flames. Morgan also has applied for a grant from Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc.

She had hoped to get some of the state of Oregon’s fire-hardening grants, but only projects to be completed by the end of June can qualify. Construction surprises and supply chain delays made it impossible to meet that deadline she said. She estimated the project could have received as much as $5,800 from the grants.

“Arbitrarily, the state decides everyone needs to be rebuilt by then. You drive through Talent and Phoenix, some people haven’t even started yet. It makes sense why, all the contractors are so busy,” she said.

Current estimates for total reconstruction cost of the garage are “easily” $1.3 million, Morgan said. But she has hope the project will be done as soon as the end of summer.

“Every timeline, all the architects, the city, the contractors — none of them have been right. It’s just a wild-ass guess. You just do your best. That’s my assumption — that everyone is doing their best,” she said.

Morgan likes to remember last spring, when Talent Mayor Darby-Ayers Flood looked to the building as an Almeda survivor and referred to it as a “beacon of hope.” Morgan believes the recognizable building sitting in the fire scar can serve that role for the many others in various stages of restoration throughout the fire’s path, for the cities of Talent and Phoenix as they slowly recreate and reimagine.

“You just have to see this as an opportunity and keep moving forward,” she said.