B&B owners trade up

The in-development Port Austin Bed & Breakfast along Lake Street. The owners have been working on renovating the building since purchasing it in 2016. (Robert

Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune) B&B owners trade up in retirement

ROBERT CREENAN

robert.creenan@hearst.com

PORT AUSTIN — When most people retire, typically they try to settle down a bit. it’s not often that they try something bigger than what their previous careers were.

But Joanne Murphy, along with her husband Lance, have been working the past few years restoring a home along Lake Street in Port Austin and turning it into Port Austin Bed & Breakfast.

“We thought we’d have a two-year renovation,” Joanne said. “It turned out to be a four-year renovation.”

She said the building, dating back to the 1880s, had previously been a home for one of the founding fathers of Port Austin, and for Frank Hubbard from 1895 to 1930.

From 1970 to 2014, it served as an adult foster care facility and was in bad shape.

The foundation required fixing, the second and third floors had no support other than the outside walls, and the interior walls needed to be redone so support beams could be added.

“Everything inside had to be rebuilt,” Lance said, adding they had to take out a lot of bathrooms when gutting the place.

“It’s amazing it hadn’t collapsed on itself,” Joanne said.

When finished, the bed and breakfast will have five guest bedrooms that are able to hold two people each, and each will have its own bathroom. It will also have common rooms, parlor rooms, a breakfast area, a reception area, a laundry room, patio furniture, and a fire pit outside. The Murphy’s own quarters are on the third floor.

The Murphys previously lived and worked in the Detroit area, Joanne as an advocate for disabled students and Lance for Verizon. They were looking for options for their retirement and found this house on Zillow, with Lance having the idea of turning it into a bed and breakfast

Joanne had been familiar with the area, having gone to a cottage in Port Austin in the summer when she was growing up.

“Instead of downsizing, our retirement went up in size,” Joanne said.

The Murphys were also looking for work opportunities for their son, who has cerebral palsy and autism. They knew he was not going to get a traditional job, and he also went to a culinary arts school, so they wanted to give him a role with some responsibility.

Port Austin Bed & Breakfast hopes to open for the 2021 season, which Joanne

said would last from May to October. The Murphy’s are willing to be open for longer as the Port Austin Chamber of Commerce wants to bring in more people year-round.

In contrast to the two other bed and breakfasts in Port Austin, which have a very Victorian feel, Joanne said this bed and breakfast would show off different historical periods the house existed in.