Eugene Makerspace reopens in new home after fire damage

Eugene Makerspace is back under its own roof, a comeback that restores a key gathering place for Eugene’s hobbyists, artists, builders and startup tinkerers after a fire nearly wiped the nonprofit out.

The community workshop celebrated its grand reopening Saturday at a new site in West Eugene, more than 19 months after a fire gutted its former home in the 600 block of McKinley Street. Eugene Springfield Fire called the blaze a second-alarm commercial structure fire, and Eugene Makerspace said most of the shop and everything inside was destroyed. What had once been a shared workspace for makers across Lane County was suddenly reduced to salvage, storage and uncertainty.

The loss reached far beyond a building. Over the years, Eugene Makerspace had hosted local summer youth STEM camps, Saturday Market startups, Punkin’ Chunkin’ contests, near-space balloon launches and robotics projects, making it a rare place where students, artists and entrepreneurs could work in the same room and cross paths with people who knew different tools and skills. The organization, which was founded in 2011 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has long described its mission as fostering collaboration across technology, science, art and culture.

In the months after the fire, leaders said they briefly wondered whether they should shut the nonprofit down. Instead, community support kept the organization active through 2025. By April, Eugene Makerspace said it was holding pop-up events around Eugene, meeting several times a week, and moving salvaged tools into storage while it searched for a new home. In a November 2024 status update, the group said the response from members and supporters had been heart-warming and validating, and pushed it toward reopening.

The rebuild took shape in West Eugene. Board minutes from Sept. 18, 2025 said the organization had signed a one-year lease at 3890 West 1st, in a space of about 1,800 square feet with front-office and warehouse areas. By October, the group said it had taken the keys and moved the remaining contents from the old makerspace into the new location, beginning a full build-out.

The new space is smaller than the old one but more intentionally arranged. A November 2025 update described four planned rooms: a Proto-Lab with 3D printers, a laser cutter, soldering station and electronics resources; a Textile Lab with sewing machines, looms, spinning wheels, vinyl cutters, paper-craft materials and a photography area; a Versatile Room for workshops, project layout and member storage; and a Wood Shop, expected to come last because of cost and complexity. The new setup gives Eugene Makerspace a working home again, but it also brings back something harder to measure: a place where Lane County’s makers can share tools, learn from one another and keep local innovation rooted in the community.