City of Orlando still finalizing Pulse memorial design
ORLANDO, Fla. —
The city of Orlando told WESH 2 News on Tuesday that it’s still finalizing the design and budget for a permanent Pulse memorial.
The city had been working toward breaking ground this month on the memorial to the victims and survivors of the 2016 nightclub shooting.
While some permit work has gone through, vendor cost estimates have not been nailed down. That has to happen for the final design to be approved.
Because of this, the city said work at the Orange Avenue site is on target to start this fall.
In June, as the city marked 10 years since the shooting, we heard from the design team as it shared updates with the city council.
The team said that the memorial — which will be built on the site of the former nightclub — will include such things as a reflecting pool where the dance floor once stood, an Angel Ellipse featuring columns with tributes to each of the 49 victims, a visitors’ pavilion, and will even be built with concrete from the demolished building crushed and mixed into the construction materials.
“There were many of the family members that did not want the building demolished because their child had died there, and they felt like their soul was there. So in this way we’re able to preserve that and keep the building in a holistic manner on the site but not in a physical, vertical representation,” the team said.
After that meeting, planners said it was still too early to determine the exact cost of the project, but added they expect it will be close to the previously mentioned $12 million.