The Kimmel Center will rename the Merriam Theater after getting a multimillion-dollar donation

Five and a half years after buying the Merriam Theater with the intent of refurbishing it, the Kimmel Center has landed its first major private gift for the project.

Local business leader Alan B. Miller and his family have donated an undisclosed sum to get the renovation started, and the theater will be renamed in perpetuity in their honor.

The new name, Miller Theater, will go up on front of the building as soon as Saturday, weather permitting, arts center leaders said.

In explaining his gift, Miller, 84, a founding member of the Kimmel board who has long been involved in the arts, said he was excited to help, “so the community will have a wonderful modern theater.”

He drew a direct line from the arts to the large health-care company he founded, Universal Health Services. “We try and make people well. I think that entertainment and cultural activities really are a part of that.”

Miller declined to specify the amount of the gift.

“I’m not talking about that,” he said. “It’s substantial and I am happy to do it.”

In 2016, the Kimmel identified naming rights for the Merriam as worth between $20 million and $35 million for a deal lasting between 10 and 20 years.

Forbes estimates the net worth of Miller and his family at $1.4 billion. Born in Brooklyn, Miller in 1979 founded King of Prussia-based Universal Health Services, a Fortune 500 company, and today holds the title of executive chairman.

The now-former Merriam, on Broad Street between the Academy of Music at Locust Street and the glass-capped arts complex at Spruce, was bought by the Kimmel in 2016. An initial plan to sell air rights above the theater for a residential tower failed to attract a developer, leaving the Kimmel without an immediate path to modernizing the facility.

The theater, with about 1,700 seats, is an ideal size for certain kinds of concerts and events too large for the 650-seat Perelman and more intimate than the 2,900-seat Academy of Music. This season, the Merriam, which was known as the Sam S. Shubert Theatre when it opened in 1918, is hosting a wide variety of genres, including musicals, jazz, rock, comedians, and family programming. The theater was named for developer and University of the Arts board member John W. Merriam in 1991. A $3 million trust Merriam left for upkeep was paid out between 1991 and 2004, and is now gone.

Busy as it is, the theater is in need of major renovations and upgrades. Much of the interior retains its original character and details, but lobby space is tight and access to some seats difficult. The facade has been substantially altered over the years, so the exterior has neither the historic integrity of the Academy nor the sleek modernity of Verizon Hall.

The scope of work made possible by the Miller gift is not yet defined, but initial considerations are being focused on areas like roof work and spaces used by audiences, said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc.

“Now that we have this gift we can begin planning, and we hope for work to begin in the summer of 2023, if not before,” he said. “But we’ve already started the process of prioritizing and assessing.”

At least one other space at the Kimmel is likely to get a new name shortly. The naming rights to Verizon Hall expire in 2023. A previous program of naming spaces at the Kimmel prepared by consultant Genovese Vanderhoof & Associates is no longer being pursued. “In light of the merger or our two organizations [the Kimmel and the orchestra], we are evaluating all the naming opportunities around our beautiful campus,” said Tarnopolsky.

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In addition to Miller’s gift, the Kimmel has been awarded a $4 million grant for the renovation project from Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

What’s important is that the theater’s historic significance is being secured, said Anne Ewers, the recently retired Kimmel president and CEO who shepherded the Miller gift over several years.

“First for vaudeville and burlesque, then a Broadway tryout house, then with Gamble and Huff meeting in the elevator and for years having their offices in that building and the Sound of Philadelphia coming from that building, and then Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone and Teddy Pendergrass performing in that building — historically it’s so important, and now we are able to restore it.”

Ewers described a match of donor and project that allowed her to make a convincing case. In discussions with Miller, she appealed to his passion for history and his dedication to the arts. Miller and his wife made a gift of $8 million in 2018 to the Museum of the American Revolution, where a theater is now named for him. In addition to sitting on the Kimmel board for many years, he served as chairman of the Opera Philadelphia board.

Ewers told him: “‘How fabulous to recognize all that you’ve done for the arts in Philadelphia, how fabulous to be able to memorialize that.’ And that really seemed to inspire him.”