ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando city commissioners were briefed Monday on the progress of a permanent memorial for the 49 victims of the Pulse massacre.
According to city staff, the memorial design is now 60 percent complete, with architects working to select the materials for the memorial and finalize a cost estimate.
Monday’s city hall update came as the city is preparing to mark ten years since the tragedy.
Remembrance events began on Saturday with more than 2,000 people attending the annual CommUNITY Rainbow Run, a 4.9k race that was started by UCF graduate students in 2017.
The week of remembrance events continued on Monday, as the Pulse Prayer Ribbons were put on display.
The ribbons are hung up every year as part of the city’s annual remembrance events. They included 49 black ribbons to represent the 49 lives lost and one black ribbon for the Pulse massacre survivors.
After the tragedy, people in Provincetown, Massachusetts, sent Orlando the ribbons with the names of the victims written on them, as a gesture of solidarity.
At City Hall on Monday, architects discussed the latest iteration of design plans.
It includes a reflecting pool, a private gathering area, a healing garden, a survivor’s wall, and sealed capsules that will remain on site containing personal artifacts from the 49 angels.
“This is a chance to know that there are personal elements of those angels, specifically there. So we’re talking about bringing that psychic notion of connection not with a place now, but with physical people, memories, and experiences and shared components,” said Dan-Michael Trbovich, the architect of record for the project.
The design also includes elements that aren’t as visible. While the Pulse nightclub itself was demolished in March, the building’s concrete was salvaged and will be incorporated into the new memorial site.
“There were many of the family members that did not actually want the building demolished because their child had died there, and they felt like their soul was there. So in this way we were able to preserve that and keep the building in a holistic manner on the site,” said Jorge Borelli, whose firm is leading the project.
Architects told commissioners they hope to move to the permitting stage of the project in July, with construction expected to begin in September.
The architects say they are on track to open the new memorial by September 2027.
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