Published: Mar 07, 2012 12:00 AM
Modified: Mar 06, 2012 08:27 PM
CHAPEL HILL - Orange County Gymnastics has found a new, temporary home at the American Legion building in Chapel Hill.
The company had to leave University Mall last week, after town officials realized the building space did not meet state and federal building codes for gymnasiums.
Owners Tim and Jessica Baker have met with town officials about the University Mall space and their old building on Homestead Road, which the town owns. The couple bought the business in December, and shortly after found that the building had asbestos and mold. The town has said it can't pay to fix the building."The town has decided that this is our problem that we need to find more space or that we need to fund the upgrades," Jessica Baker said. "We purchased a business in good faith and it was housed in a town-owned building we assumed was free from environmental issues."
Town Manager Roger Stancil said the town will do an asset management study to find out more about the state of their buildings for next year's budget, but because of cuts, cant afford repairs to the building.
"We have been talking about ways [that] towns cut money is to cut maintenance," he said. "This is the price we pay for that."
Orange County Gymnastics will be at 1714 Legion Road until March 30. All classes and times remain the same.
The company is looking into a permanent location in Carrboro, said Tim Baker.
"There is just no option here for us in Chapel Hill," he said. "They just don't have the open warehouse space that we need, so we have got to look in Carrboro."