Demolition of Pulse Night Club in Orlando Begins As the 10 Year Anniversary of the Tragedy Approaches
(March 12, 2026) Orlando, FL - In 3 months, the city of Orlando and community from around the world will mark the 10 Year Anniversary that claimed 49 innocent lives and countless casualties to trauma and time at the hands of a mass shooter. The onePULSE Foundation was formed in 2016 by former club owner, Barbara Poma and collected nearly $20 million in donations for a Pulse memorial that never came to be until the organization was accused of mismanagement of funds in 2023. The City of Orlando went on to purchase the site of the club and began the process of planning the creation of a structure to memorialize the tragedy. The site was steeped in controversy once again in August of 2025 when the state of Florida painted over the rainbow crosswalk in front of the building under the cover of darkness in a sweep removal of street art that represented any sort of diversity by bequest of Governor Ron Desantis.
This year the city began releasing renderings of the proposed memorial for public review and offered survivors the opportunity to visit the inside of the space one last time before demolition was to begin. [WATCH: Video of proposed memorial] This week the dismantling of the iconic Pulse sign that stood in front of the building for the last decade was carefully removed for storage in preparation for demolition scheduled to start next week. Construction of the memorial which features the following is scheduled to be completed by fall of 2027:
A Memorial and Reflection Space: Formed by the footprint of the original Pulse building
Survivor’s Commons: A Survivor’s tribute wall positioned in a landscape that will include a seating area next to a designated survivor’s tree
Private Gathering Space: Providing a quiet space for personal reflection and an Angel Personal Effects Capsule where families can leave flowers, tie banners and place personal mementos of their fallen angel.
Angel Ellipse Site: An accessible elliptical walkway with 49 Canopy feature columns honoring the 49 victims with rainbow color glass panels.
A Reflection Pool: Positioned where the dance floor was, symbolizing peace and remembrance
A Healing and Prism Garden: A garden designed to represent hope and healing
Visitor Pavilion
