ORLANDO, Fla. – The city of Orlando plans to remove select artifacts from the Pulse Nightclub site as part of another step toward the creation of a permanent memorial.
The city said on Monday that its Facilities Division will carefully remove items from the site, including “the chandeliers, bar top, posters and other interior items that have been carefully prepackaged inside of the building.” The items will then be transported to an environmentally-controlled warehouse.
“While we have not finalized if these artifacts will be a part of the permanent memorial, we want to ensure their preservation during the design and construction phase,” the city said on Friday in a release.
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Once the items are removed, the next phase of construction, which includes the removal of the Pulse sign and clearing of the site, will begin.
The city bought the Pulse property in 2023 with the goal of building a memorial, after years of waiting for the nonprofit onePulse Foundation to finish the project.
The proposed memorial design stems from over a year of planning by the Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee and public input. Renderings showed features families have asked for: a welcome center, tribute wall, and 49 columns for the 49 killed.
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Gomez Construction Company was selected to design and build the memorial. Gomez Construction previously helped build the Pulse memorial garden at Orlando Health in 2016. As of Friday, the city said Gomez Construction is continuing to work on converting the conceptual design developed by the Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee into construction plans.
Orlando is committing $7 million while Orange County has pledged $5 million spread over three annual payments.
“It’s time. It’s time that there is a memorial. It’s time,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said.
Construction is expected to begin in 2026.
To see a full list of artifacts being removed from the site, click here.