The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will once again be
returning downtown, this time as a building owner, after receiving
the most valuable gift of real estate in the university’s history –
the Seneca Building.

The donation, by Dr. Robert and Mary Weiss of Warren, was
finalized Thursday for the $1.2 million building. The gift was
given in the memory of Dr. Paul Keverline, who died in a plane
crash in 2002.

The building is located on Marilyn Horne Way, across from
Veterans Square.

“I’m not inclined to be a property owner, unless it’s my house
I’m living in,” Dr. Weiss, an ophthalmologist and president of
Seneca Eye Surgeons Inc., said with a laugh Monday evening.

He explained that he and Dr. Paul Keverline, partners in Seneca
Eye Surgeons, had owned the building.

“It was really Dr. Keverline’s building,” Weiss explained.
Following Keverline’s death, “We looked to sell it first. That
didn’t seem to be possible or even plausible. The building really
wasn’t worth selling.”

Weiss did not go into further detail regarding the building.
There are several other buildings in the downtown historic district
which are vacant, and the demand for buildings has been down.

The building was listed in a published tax notice in early
August as having $136,444 due in back taxes.

“Basically the donation to the university is the best use for
all purposes,” Weiss said Monday. “We looked at what would be best
for the building and for the community.”

“We just thought it was a wonderful solution,” added Mary Weiss.
She said the tenants who are in the building now are going to
remain, and simply rent from a different owner.

“There are a number of spaces not rented,” she said, adding the
university needs additional office space.

She said that on the fifth floor of the Seneca Building, half of
the space is occupied by Seneca Eye Surgeons offices. The other
half is a “nice Art Deco theater. Maybe with the University taking
it over, they can use that space.”

Speaking of Seneca Eye Surgeons, Mary Weiss said, “We’re glad to
continue to stay in the building.”

Dr. Weiss explained the donation seemed to suit the needs of the
parties involved. The tenants are being offered a chance to remain
and the university gains office space.

“We knew the university was looking to build its own facility,”
he said. “This was meeting two needs at once.”

He added that about a year ago, he called Dr. Livingston
Alexander, president of Pitt-Bradford, to get the process
started.

According to Pitt-Bradford, the gift is among the five largest
outright donations the campus has received in its 42-year history
and is the most valuable gift of real estate ever made to the
university.

“We thank Dr. and Mrs. Weiss for donating this great facility to
the university,” said Alexander. “We have ensured Dr. Weiss that we
will use the building in a manner that benefits our students and
the Bradford community. We firmly believe that a Pitt-Bradford
presence will help to bring stability to the downtown area.”

Alexander said that he is working with his staff to assess space
needs on campus to determine which offices can be relocated to the
downtown building. However, those moves won’t occur any sooner than
the summer of 2006.

Currently, about 50 percent of the building is being used by 20
tenants, including the Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce, the
Bradford Creative and Performing Arts Center and the Ross Barber
Shop, all on the first floor; the Blaisdell Foundation on the
fourth floor; and Seneca Eye Surgeons Inc., and Seneca Optical on
the fifth floor.

Keverline, who worked with Weiss for 25 years, was a graduate of
the University of Pittsburgh and its medical school. Additionally,
Keverline’s four sons earned degrees from the University of
Pittsburgh.

Pitt-Bradford had its beginnings in Bradford’s downtown. During
Pitt-Bradford’s early years in the 1960s, students attended classes
in the former Emery Hardware store on Main Street and lived in the
Emery Hotel, which is located at the head of Main Street.

Since that time, the university had a brief presence on Main
Street in 2002 when the Panther Shop, formerly known as the Book
Center, occupied a storefront while the Frame-Westerberg Commons
was closed for expansion and renovation.

The gift from Dr. and Mrs. Weiss benefits Pitt-Bradford’s
Complete the Campus Campaign, which has a goal of $13 million to
benefit the university’s physical plant, provide academic support
such as endowments, improve and maintain new technology, and create
new scholarships.