Photo by Robert Dickson
By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
Over the past year, the doctors from Carrboro Pediatrics and Internal Medicine have patiently waited to move into their new building as state contractors cleaned up potentially harmful chemicals.
But the cleanup is now complete, and the doctors – who have practiced at several locations throughout Carrboro over the past 15 years – will move into their new offices in March or April of next year.
The building at 127 Fidelity Street was home to dry-cleaning businesses – most recently Hangers Cleaners – for a number of years before Carrboro Pediatrics and Internal Medicine bought the building last fall. Because chemicals used in the dry-cleaning process are linked to some cancers, the doctors had the site tested before refurbishing the building and found contamination from perchloroethylene, a dry-cleaning solvent.
“We worried about the seriousness of it,†said Nick Sartor, one of the doctors with the practice. “We’re going to live in this building.â€
“We were going to suffer from it if we didn’t have it taken care of,†added Cory Annis, another doctor with the practice.
In August, contractors from the state’s Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program removed 240 tons of soil from the Fidelity Street site. Although the testing revealed contamination in only one small area, workers removed soil from a wide radius around the contamination.
“It’s sort of like removing cancer,†Annis said.
Contractors also tested the area’s groundwater and determined that the contamination hadn’t spread off site. Once Carrboro Pediatrics and Internal Medicine moves in, they’ll monitor their wells to ensure the water isn’t contaminated.
Because the environmental clean-up process took nearly a year, the practice only just began construction on the building a few weeks ago.
The doctors had been looking for a new space for their offices for a while before deciding on the Fidelity Street building.
“It needed to be in Carrboro,†Sartor said, adding that they wanted their offices to be within walking distance of Weaver Street. The doctors also needed more space and more parking.
At the Fidelity Street building, Carrboro Pediatrics and Internal Medicine has added a number of green, sustainable features to the building, including recirculation pumps, solar panels, energy-efficient windows and more.
“It’s going to look like a new building when we’re done,†Annis said.