When Jay Miller drove by the Murphey School a few years ago, the history major in him fell in love with the broken-down building, which had been shuttered for two decades.
It was his charitable side that had to look past the rooms filled with junk, the leaky roof and the missing floors. Built in 1923 near the Orange-Durham county line, the school and its New Deal-era auditorium, which served as a nightclub after its run in education, had essentially been forgotten.
"I was shocked that it was sitting there in that condition," said Miller, 51. "I thought it was a tragedy."
So he bought it for $225,000 and then spent hundreds of thousands more to renovate it, pushing his investment to $1 million.
He tackled the project knowing that the building will never make money. Instead, he designed it as a retreat center and incubator for nonprofits. After making a fortune in the business world, Miller decided to root his second act in philanthropy.
"You can't get enough of what you don't need," Miller said of some people's never ending chase for money. "I didn't think it would be too exciting to see how much more I could make."
He rechristened the school the Shared Visions Retreat Center, after the nonprofit he runs to consult other nonprofits. He rents space in the school to Just Right Academy, a new private learning center for elementary and middle school students. The old teacher's home behind the school, which was also renovated, is home to the Mental Health Association in Orange County.
The project was completed about a month ago. The auditorium, which was built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration, is celebrating its unofficial soft opening this weekend with concerts by the Pura Fé Trio, led by acoustic lap steel slide guitar player Pura Fé. The performances, which include a concert tonight, will be recorded for an album.
Miller, an Alabama native who moved to the Triangle to attend Duke University, made his money in the musical instrument business. He owned the local chain The Music Loft, which he sold earlier this decade. After flirting with the idea of law school, he decided instead to consult for the nonprofit sector. After hosting retreats at his Orange County home, he had decided a new space was needed when he came across the Murphey School, which was originally designed to educate elementary school students.
Miller, along with contractor Steve Wachholz of Triangle Green Build, saw the potential.
"It was dirty, nasty hard work at times," Wachholz said of the project, which took more than two years. "But it was fun."
The building, with its big windows and historic character, will serve its new students well, said Linda McDonough of Just Right Academy.
"You walk in there, and it's like, 'ahhhh,' " said McDonough, who will officially start classes in a few weeks. "And the kids feel it too."
