Orlando moves to purchase site of Pulse massacre amid struggles to create memorial

The city of Orlando plans to purchase the Pulse nightclub, the location of what was then the country’s deadliest mass shooting in 2016, potentially ending years of uncertainty over the fate of the site.

Mayor Buddy Dyer announced Wednesday that Orlando will purchase the site to create a permanent memorial for the 49 people killed and 53 injured in the massacre, which targeted members of the LGBTQ community.

“We recently met with some families of the victims, and survivors of the Pulse tragedy, who shared their desire for a permanent memorial at the Pulse site,” Dyer said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “To expedite the creation of a lasting memorial to honor the 49 angels, the City of Orlando is pursuing purchasing the site.”

The city council will vote on whether to approve the $2 million purchase next week.

Orlando previously attempted to purchase the club in late 2016, but the owners of the site declined to sell. A temporary memorial featuring murals of victims has been on the site since.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who was the governor of Florida at the time of the shooting, introduced a bill in Congress in 2021 alongside Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) to designate the site as the National Pulse Memorial. It was passed by both chambers and signed by President Biden just over five years after the shooting.

But that bill didn’t result in any change to the site, as the land was not owned by the government.

Negotiations between the club’s owners and the onePULSE Foundation to create a permanent memorial have languished for years, reportedly over disagreements about payment for the site. 

One of the club’s owners, Barbara Poma, was the foundation’s executive director until she left the organization earlier this year for unknown reasons. After her departure, the group said it was giving up on creating a memorial at the club site and pursuing other locations instead.

Foundation director Deborah Bowie told USA Today that she is glad the city stepped in.

“We are thankful to the City of Orlando for ensuring that the National Pulse Memorial will be located at the Pulse nightclub site, which was always the hope of families of the 49 victims and the Pulse-impacted community,” Bowie said in a statement. “We look forward to being a part of the discussion with the City of Orlando as this moves forward.”

Dyer said the city has not yet decided what a memorial would consist of.

“We are committed to taking a thoughtful, collaborative approach to understand the history of the effort to create a memorial up until this point, and then working with the victims’ families and survivors to ensure there is a memorial at the Pulse site that honors the victims, those impacted by the tragedy and pays tribute to the resiliency of Orlando,” he said in a statement.