NexTier to purchase downtown fixture
NexTier Bank is set to close on its purchase of a building that has been a fixture on the Diamond since 1978.
The Morgan Center will be purchased by current tenant NexTier Bank once the deal is finalized next week.
Nancy Morgan-McCarren said her late father, Butler businessman Bill Morgan, began building the Morgan Center in 1976, without a single tenant lined up.
“Dad was always the most optimistic person I know and could, in a very big sense, look into the future and visualize the best thing,” McCarren said.
She said the family's Brugh Avenue property, the Morgan Management Building, was filled with doctors' offices at that time. That building was destroyed by fire in 2003.
“He felt that a building on the Diamond would be perfect for attorneys because it's near the courthouse,” McCarren said, “so he made it happen.”
She said Morgan Center has about 15 tenants, many of whom have been in the building for decades.
“I gave the tenants a letter (regarding the sale),” McCarren said. “I have the best tenants in the world. They are all just wonderful.”
She said NexTier officials approached her and requested that the building be renamed using the NexTier moniker.
McCarren hearkened back to 2007, when her father owned Morgan II at the intersection of routes 68 and 38.
“Butler Hospital approached Dad and said they wanted their name on the building,” McCarren recalled. “He said if you want that, you can own it.”
Butler Health System now owns the property.
“Through the process of working with NexTier and leasing space, they wanted their name on the building and I said what my dad had said (to Butler Hospital),” McCarren said. “It was just a good time for me and I think it's a wonderful opportunity for NexTier.”
She said her father spared no expense in the mid-1970s, when the Morgan Center was designed.
“Dad always did things first class, and it's a beautiful building,” she said.
Once the Morgan Center sells, the only Morgan business in Butler will be the car wash on New Castle Road, which is owned and operated by McCarren's brother, David Morgan.
“It's bittersweet for me because it was my dad's building,” McCarren said of selling the Morgan Center. “When he died in 2008 it went to me, and I tried to carry on as best I could to honor him, but it's a lot of responsibility and a lot of stress, so when this came on the table, I felt it was just the right time.”
After the closing, the Morgan family will make one last official visit to the Morgan Center.
“We have a picture of Dad in the lobby of Morgan Center, and that's going to be the last thing we take down,” McCarren said. “I know my dad would be OK with this. I really feel he would be.”
The Morgan Center replaced the Nixon Hotel on the southern side of Diamond Park.
NexTier officials declined to comment on the sale until the deal is closed next week.
