In the mid-1930s a Jacksonville entrepreneur, Georgia Seagle finally finished the building, with assistance from the University of Florida, the city of Gainesville, and federal funding.

[2] The Seagle Building played a noteworthy, albeit secretive role in WW2, where electrical engineers from the University of Florida developed certain components of the technology behind the proximity fuse.

Of particular interest was the development and construction of equipment for static direction finding and the development of the proximity fuse both of which played important parts in the winning of the war.” During the late 1960s, there were floors in the Seagle Building that had nondescript office titles, and military personnel would meet visitors in the lobby.

Having difficulty meeting modern fire codes as time passed, the building lost most of its upper-floor tenants.

Eventually sold to a development company from Kentucky for $1 with the understanding that the building was to be completely renovated, a newly remodeled Seagle Building reopened in 1983 with modern wiring, plumbing, telephone and cable jacks, a fire sprinkler system, an emergency diesel generator, an added internal concrete stairway providing two fire escapes for every floor, and many other improvements.