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Mold shuts down Orlando Ballet School near Lake Ivanhoe

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Ballet School, home to some 600 students, has been forced to cancel classes and move out of its building downtown after school officials found mold in the building.

School officials noticed the odd smell inside the Doctor Phillips Center on North Orange Avenue last week.

Now the Orlando Utilities Commission urges everyone to stay out of the building while crews fix the problem.

The ballet school taped a sign to the door telling everyone classes are canceled until further notice.

Gail Cohen's daughters go to class at the ballet's location off of Doctor Phillips Boulevard, which is where some of the other students are moving until the mold is removed.

"If they are fixing it, that's great," said Cohen.

OUC owns the building, which was used to house a power plant back at the turn of the 20th century. Since then, it's had issues with flooding and a leaky roof.

"The health and safety of the folks in that building is our concern, so we met with them and let them know about the mold detection," said Erika Hodges of OUC.

Hodges said the utility company is spending more than $60,000 to rush testing.

"I think that's great if they are speeding it up and testing to make sure that it's safe for everyone to be there, to be inside the building," said Cohen.

Testing will take about two weeks. At that time, officials will know what kind of mold they're dealing with and how much it will cost to get rid of it.