The building may be familiar to many as Greenlee Funeral Home. After all, it stood at its Summit Street location for 70 years.

But today, the business has a new name, owners, interior, even a fresh coat of paint dressing up the outside.

To celebrate its new beginning, the owners of Wimberly & Jackson Funeral Home have planned an open house for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

The business also is sponsoring a free gospel concert at 6 p.m. at St. John Baptist Church at nearby 741 E.E. Butler Parkway.

Those who have visited the funeral home in the past may not recognize much when they walk through the doors this weekend.

The owners, the Revs. Christopher Wimberly, Derrick Jackson and Tonya Haynes, along with co-owner Myra Surratt, have replaced floors and furniture, added carpeting and expanded and created rooms, including a private viewing room.

They also have added flat-screen TVs for video presentations of the families' loved ones.

"It took a long time to get to where we are and we're still doing some work," Wimberly said.

Wimberly started helping at the funeral home in the late 1990s through an uncle who runs a funeral home in his native Winder.

"As years passed by, I heard that Mrs. (Margaret) Greenlee wanted to sell the funeral home," he said.

Jackson said he learned about the business opportunity from Wimberly.

The two were pastors in Tennessee at the time and were talking about Wimberly preaching at a revival at Jackson's church.

"He mentioned he was strongly looking at going into the funeral home business," Jackson said.

That caught his immediate interest.

"I'm an accountant by training and it sounded like a good opportunity," he said.

Jackson said he drove to Gainesville, checked out the funeral home and spoke with Greenlee, who talked about what the business meant to the black community - its main customer base - through its long history here.

Jackson said Greenlee, who couldn't be reached for comment, also talked about how the business had declined over the years.

"I took a special interest in restoring the work that (the Greenlee family) had done," Jackson said. "... So, what got me excited initially was the service opportunity more than the profitability side of the equation."

The business exchanged hands last November.

Since then, the owners have focused on renovations. In the meantime, while hammers were banging away, they held services and conducted business in Winder, Wimberly said.

The home's new funeral director/embalmer is Kenneth Wynn.

Wimberly, 31, who lives in Gwinnett County, also serves as pastor of the Hunter Hill Baptist Church in Atlanta.

"I always wanted to own a funeral home, but the main thing is - and I guess this is the preacher side of me - to be able to bring comfort and ease to a family during difficult times," he said.

"I look at (the work) as a ministry and ... meeting the needs of the people."

The funeral home, because of its size, has some space limitations.

"When we have large, large families, we have connected with some churches that have opened their doors to allow us to have services (at their locations)," Wimberly said.

Also, the owner of property next to the funeral home has agreed to allow overflow parking as needed, as has a church next to that vacant lot, he added.

Eventually, Wimberly said he foresees the funeral home moving to a bigger location.

"Our main goal is to give back to the community," he said. "Not just take people's money and keep it, but put it back into the business."

He doesn't have a time frame for that expansion.

And right now, it's not too high in his mind. For now, Wimberly said, he wants to make sure the funeral home has its last bit of polish for Saturday's open house.