Ting Pavilion at Lake Eola Park needs pricey repair

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A precious gift from China in Orlando needs some big repairs. The stunning piece of Asian artistry is located at Lake Eola Park.

"We call it the Ting Pavillon," says Orlando's Cultural Arts Manager, Chris Wallace.

The Chinese Ting was a gift from Orlando's sister city in China, called Guilin.

"It's coming up on about 30 years inside the park."

But if you look closely, you'll notice some broken pieces on the roof. Wallace says, a recent storm damaged the pavilion, after a tree fell on it.

"Around 60 mph winds that came through. Had a five to eight-thousand pound branch that blew off and broke and when it did, it fell on to the top of the pavilion."

A hole in the deck was repaired quickly, but Wallace says, fixing the roof will be a challenge.

"The Shanghai company came over, and built it on site. Using their bamboo ladders and bamboo tools.
It's very expensive to get at cost. Even with our own pottery studio making it.  It's a lot of labor hours going in to create that replica and intricacy," Wallace says.

It will cost thousands of dollars to duplicate the roof pieces, he adds.

"It's probably going to be close to $100,000 to repair everything." 

As the city works with the insurance company on an estimate, we asked taxpayers what they thought.

Danny Gooding says, "I think it would be worth fixing."

Ivan Bermudez agrees, "Considering the historical context of it, I think preserving history is necessary, especially in the city.  Sometimes you gotta spend money to keep the city beautiful."

Wallace says people can also donate to a fund to help repair the Ting Pavilion.

"It's just a very important part of the park, that's become one of the landmarks."

The link to donate is: http://www.orlandotrust.org/.  Go to Parks Division.