Former Asante medical building at 49 Talent Ave. will be purchased, remodeled to house nonprofit agencies that work to help Talent citizens

By Tony Boom for the Rogue Valley Times

A Community Resource Center will be coming to Talent after the city received notice of approval for a $1.5 million federal grant from Business Oregon in late December.

The grant will allow for purchase and initial remodel of a former Asante medical building at 49 Talent Ave. The center would house nonprofit agencies that work for the benefit of Talent citizens.

“I think it is critical that we keep the non-governmental organizations that are on the ground working directly with residents that have ongoing needs and are still recovering from the fire,” said Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood.

“The reality is that no organization serves the community as well as the organizations that are actually in the community. They build relationships. They have trust,” said Ayers-Flood.

A timeline for development of the center has not yet been created.

“It’s taking longer than we anticipated to get to this point,” City Manager Gary Milliman said. As a consequence, he doesn’t plan to issue a timeline until the grant agreement is in hand.

“Moving forward with the center will need to await a signed grant agreement from the state,” said Milliman.

An April fire in the city-owned Town Hall that displaced nonprofits Talent Food Project and the Talent Business Alliance provided the impetus for seeking the funds. Milliman spearhead the effort, and his work drew praise from city councilors at a hearing held on the proposal.

Organizations that support the residents of Talent will be sought to occupy the space, Ayers-Flood said. Groups that are not based in Talent could apply if local support in town is part of their work, she said.

“We are planning to meet with potential users and come up with a plan as to who would occupy what space and how it would be managed,” Milliman said.

Formation of a management group by the involved parties was suggested in the grant application. Several possibilities exist. Those could include management by one of the participating occupants, a city worker on a part-time assignment or a contracted manager, said Milliman.

Milliman has spoken with some current city property tenants about the possibility of moving into the new center once it is ready.

Those include the Rogue Action Center, currently in a city-owned house on Home Street, and the Talent Business Alliance, which is occupying space in the Talent Community Center.

Talent Food Project and the Jackson County Long Term Recovery Group, which occupies space in the city-owned Depot Building, are also potential occupants, Ayers-Flood said.

Nonprofit organizations would pay a rate of $1.10 per square foot for office space, which has been established by Talent City Council, Milliman said. The food pantry had been paying a lease of $1 per month for the basement space in Town Hall.

“They have been operating in our community for as long as I have been mayor, at least, as an occupant in Town Hall. That was a very busy food project. Clearly that need is really important to Talent,” Ayers-Flood said.

“We are thrilled, but it’s not a guarantee that we are there yet,” Judy Richard, committee chair for the food project, said of the grant award. The project is a joint effort between ACCESS and the local group.

The fire halted Green Bag food collections for several months in Talent. In August, it started again with bags being collected in the Ray’s Market parking lot. The food was sent to pantries in Phoenix and Ashland, which Talent residents were using.

The group’s search for a food collection space was fulfilled in September when the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Production Facility on Talent Avenue made space available for storage.

Food distribution in now done on Mondays at 4 p.m. in the Talent Community Center parking lot. Volunteers bring food items from the OSF location and ACCESS brings a mobile food pantry that includes refrigerated goods. Storage at the OSF building along Talent Avenue allows four additional tables of dry goods to be made available at the site, said Tammy Wilder, ACCESS volunteer coordinator for Talent.

The current location is not ideal when inclement weather has participants standing outside awaiting for assistance, Richards said. The distribution previously took place inside the Town Hall.

A total of $1.35 million will be used to purchase the 4,000-square-foot building from Asante, which formerly operated a clinic there. The additional $150,000 will be used for initial remodeling. Brookings architect Tony Barron had inspected the building as part of the grant application process.

The city and Asante are currently developing a sale and purchase agreement, Milliman said.

Business Oregon administers the federal Community Development Block Grant program that is providing the funds. Peter Town with the Rogue Valley Council of Governments will serve as the grant administrator. He will authorize payments and make sure there is compliance with the grant terms.

A public hearing on the project was held before Talent City Council on Aug. 7. A speaker supported the effort, and several letters of support were also received. At the Sept. 18 council meeting, Milliman was authorized to sign the grant application.

Reach Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at tboomwriter@gmail.com. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.