OUC invited Bungalower to take a hard hat tour of the remediation work being done inside the building. While there, it was clear that they were taking their time to be meticulous in the removal of the contaminated soil while not harming the historic building.

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Pictured: The former power plant generator room

We wrote about the historic Ivanhoe building back in May because Bungalower readers were asking what was happening behind a suddenly erected construction fence that had seemingly appeared over night.

The former OUC power plant had a mold scare in August of 2013 that forced then tenants, Orlando Ballet and CFCArts to move out, leaving the building vacant.

OUC spokesman, Tim Trudell, informed us that the property would be preserved, and that they were checking off a list of repair projects before it could house a new tenant. Besides the mold issue that had sent their tenants running, standing crude oil had accumulated in the former power station’s generator room, and as the ground floor was barely above and sometimes below the water table, water would regularly leach up into the building from nearby Lake Ivanhoe.

The oil and brownfield under the building was in the process of being cleaned-up and was almost finished at the time of our tour, as they’d already removed over 350 tons of contaminated dirt. Next OUC work crews will be installing a “wall” in the ground behind the building to prevent any possible brown field intrusion in the future. Then they will be waterproofing the roof, walls, windows and flooring to prevent any future water leakage. Then they will be treating the mold (pictured below).

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Black mold contamination in the walls of the generator room

OUC officials on the ground with us during the tour said the project could take many years to finish, but they would rather take their time and do the job right, than hurry the work and risk harming the building.

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Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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5 Comments

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    1. No rush on their end. They’re sitting on it until they find the perfect future use.

  1. The skeleton of that building is magnificent.
    The interiors are decidedly less so.