- March 13, 2025
The parking lot at the Wells Fargo branch on Belle Terre Parkway sits mostly empty, aside from a few odd cars and three Dumpsters filled to the brim with hay.
Would-be customers are directed by staff to do their banking at another location; this one is closed for the week.
This particular branch of the bank has undergone construction projects since late last year, when a complaint about the air quality and suspected mold growth within the building prompted air sampling tests.
Since then, at least one employee, who asked to remain unnamed, said she has complained about health issues she and her coworkers have faced, and said she believes mold within the building is to blame.
On Nov. 21, 2011, Kelly Pearson, a representative from Environmental Compliance Services Inc., sampled air from within the building to test it.
At that time, ECS reported visible microbial growth along the west wall of an interior office as well as some growth beneath the carpet of that same building. In a summary letter outlining the company’s findings, Pearson said the growth in the office appeared to come from a previous window leak.
Pearson also analyzed the air quality in the cubicle area, teller line and a vacant office inside the building as well as the air outside the building. The results found significantly higher aspergillus/penicillum-like particles in the teller line in comparison to elsewhere inside and outside of the building, and three times the number of basidiospores in the teller line than within the store.
Pearson said in her summary letter that the amount of these mold spores were “well within normal parameters based on (American Conference of Industrial Hygienists) guidelines,” but nonetheless suggested some work be done by a licensed mold remediation contractor shortly after the test was done.
The organisms that were found in medium to high levels in the air can cause hay fever, asthma or hypersensitivity pneumonia. Their presence in high levels in the air within a building may be indicative of wood-decaying fungi that grow as a result of water damage or high of humidity within the building, the report said.
While Wells Fargo took the suggested remedial action, and follow-up tests showed the air had improved, in the spring of 2012, an odor arose within the branch.
“We believe (the odor) is related to a product used in the construction of the building,” wrote Kathy Harrison, vice president of corporate communications of the Florida region for Wells Fargo, in an email. “This product is currently being removed from the entire building, including the walls and the roof.”
Hay is sometimes used as insulation in walls — they’re known as non-load-bearing straw bale walls — as a more environmentally-friendly method of construction. However, in damp climates, using these materials can spur microbial growth because hay or straw provides food for fungi, according to EcoBroker.
This can lead to high mold spore concentrations inside buildings, which can cause health problems for people related to mold growth, EcoBroker said.
However, Harrison said that a June 2012 report indicated no significant issues were present when an air sampling test was conducted. Last week, more air quality reports were conducted and the bank is currently awaiting results. She said that the problem is expected to be resolved by late September.
