Orlando hopes to have Pulse memorial built by 10th anniversary of shooting, mayor says
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Establishing its new, lead role to create a permanent memorial to the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub, the City of Orlando announced Tuesday a fundraising account for the cause and a goal to complete the project by the tenth anniversary of the tragedy.
The city took control of the long-running but stagnant memorial effort October 23 when commissioners voted to purchase the nightclub property for $2 million from its former owners. Previously the nonprofit onePulse Foundation was overseeing the memorial, but that struggling organization now intends to dissolve.
Addressing reporters Tuesday, Mayor Buddy Dyer said the city has spent the last two months having meetings internally and with the foundation to chart a path toward getting a memorial built.
“There’s a lot of steps still to go in that,” Dyer said. “We have decision processes on whether the building will remain or be demolished or be used in some part. We just don’t have a figure yet on what the cost of the memorial would be.”
Time is of the essence though, as the mayor said Tuesday he’d like to see the memorial built by June 12, 2026, which will mark a decade since the tragedy, where 49 people were killed and 53 were wounded.
In the meantime, the city plans to raise donations from businesses and individuals who want to contribute to the memorial using an account called the Orlando United Pulse Memorial Fund, set up within its Strengthen Orlando nonprofit.
Strengthen Orlando has been used since 2009 to fund everything from arts and educational initiatives and programs for the police and fire departments.
The Pulse fund will be restricted just for memorial construction, and Dyer said donors should feel confident their money will be used to complete the memorial.
“One of the reasons that we’re not setting up a new separate unknown foundation is we think there’s a level of trust with the City of Orlando,” he said. “I think people know that if we say we’re going to do something, we keep our word and get it done.”
Beyond the $2 million purchase of the land, no more city funds have spent on the effort so far.
Dyer and his staff met with foundation and its board in November to assess the progress it made, and what other initiatives it was involved in.
In those meetings, the foundation agreed to turn over design documents of its plans, according to an email from onePulse to its stakeholders Monday evening.
But it’s unclear if the city will pursue the foundation’s designs. Dyer said the city is also trying to build up a database of contact information for survivors, families, first responders and others impacted by the tragedy, to more regularly communicate and involve them in the process.
Interested people can sign up to receive updates on memorial progress at orlando.gov/pulsememorial.
In addition to overseeing the memorial, the city also agreed to continue the Annual Remembrance Ceremony and the CommUNITY Rainbow Run, a road race put on by the UCF DeVos Sport Business Management Program in 2024. Both events were previously handled by onePulse.
In the past two months, the foundation faced a series of departures and the Board of Directors has since voted to shutter the operation amid criticism from survivors, families and public officials frustrated that a memorial hasn’t yet been built.
The foundation also owns another property near the nightclub, which it once hoped to build a museum on. That land, purchased with Tourist Development Tax money granted by Orange County, is now expected to be turned back over to the county since the museum plan was abandoned.
Complicating the intended transfer, the Florida Department of State sent a letter to onePulse demanding repayment of $394,000 in state money allotted to the museum plan.
In its email Monday evening, the Foundation said its communication would be “the final email sent from the foundation and all future emails will come from the City of Orlando.”
