Orlando Approves $12.6 Million Pulse Memorial Contract, With Construction Set to Begin Nov. 25

More than 10 years after a gunman killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub, construction of a permanent memorial on the site has a start date. The Orlando City Council voted unanimously on Monday, Oct. 12, to approve a $12.6 million construction contract with Gomez Construction of Winter Park, with site work set to begin Nov. 25 at the former club on South Orange Avenue and completion expected by the end of 2027.

The memorial will turn the now-razed nightclub site into a 0.9-acre space where the community can honor the victims and reflect on the attack's legacy, according to Central Florida Public Media. Planned features include a reflecting pool, a Survivor Wall, a visitor center and a pavilion for community gatherings, WLRN reported.

What the council approved

Gomez Construction was the highest-scored of three firms that bid on the project when the council selected it in July 2025. The city first approved a design-and-build agreement with the company in September 2025, when the memorial was projected to cost $12 million.

Monday's action puts the project on a firm construction schedule. According to the schedule attached to the meeting agenda, work will start Nov. 25 with site grading and tree removal. Earlier this year, project planners had told the council they expected construction to begin in September, but the end-of-2027 completion date has not changed, Central Florida Public Media reported.

District 4 Commissioner Patty Sheehan, whose district includes the site, described the vote as "the last step in the healing and the continuum of this process," adding that the goal now is to make sure the memorial gets built.

A deadline set by term limits

Mayor Buddy Dyer, who has led Orlando for more than two decades, is not seeking reelection in the November 2027 city election and has made finishing the memorial a priority before he leaves office. "Commissioner Sheehan and I will term out in January, and we're going to make sure that that memorial is finished before we do," Dyer said, according to Central Florida Public Media.

When the council approved the funding agreement in 2025, Dyer said the memorial would be "a great permanent space for families of the victims and survivors in our community," WLRN reported at the time. Sheehan said then that the victims' families "can finally have a memorial they can be proud of to honor their loved ones," while noting that many of those families had also wanted gun reform.

The open mayoral race to succeed Dyer has already drawn candidates including state Rep. Anna Eskamani and City Commissioner Tony Ortiz, and the memorial's schedule leaves little margin: the city has about 13 months after site work begins to finish construction before a new mayor takes office.

Who is paying

The city of Orlando is covering the largest share of the cost, with help from Orange County, the state and private donors. The commitments reported so far:

The philanthropic gifts come from Dr. Phillips Charities, Orlando Health, Walt Disney World, Universal and other charities, according to WLRN. Under the 2025 agreement with Orange County, the city is responsible for costs beyond the county's $5 million, including any overruns. The city's costs also included about $3 million for the site and neighboring lots, WLRN reported in 2025.

19 design changes to stay on budget

To keep the memorial within its $12.6 million budget, the bid package on Monday's agenda included 19 changes from earlier designs, according to a spokesman for Gomez Construction. The Oct. 5 bid notes and city statements describe several of them:

• The tile mosaic planned for the curved wall of the Visitors Center was deleted and replaced with stucco.
• The granite on the two survivor walls will now be tile.
• Benches outside the visitors pavilion were removed entirely.
• Plant sizes were reduced by about 50%.
• Copper plumbing was swapped for PVC.
• The paver supplier was changed from an out-of-state company to a local one to save on shipping.

Even with those changes, the project remains over budget for lighting and electrical work, Central Florida Public Media reported. City spokesman Douglas Richards said that at every pre-construction design milestone, Gomez gave the city a cost estimate along with ideas to save money and return to the target budget. "Many of the cost savings centered on changing suppliers," Richards wrote in a statement.

Gomez operations manager Stephen Corrow attributed the cuts to a "volatile" construction market with substantial price swings. Kristi Fries, the city's public works project manager, called the company's effort to hold the line on costs "Herculean."

A decade of delays

The June 12, 2016, attack at Pulse, a gay nightclub, was at the time the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. In the years that followed, the nonprofit onePULSE Foundation led fundraising for a permanent memorial and museum, but it was dogged by accusations that it misused community donations and public money. The foundation dissolved in 2023, and the city bought the property itself.

The design process has played out amid other disputes over how the attack is remembered. The memorial's conceptual design included a rainbow memorial crosswalk outside the site, which the Florida Department of Transportation painted over in 2025, WLRN reported. Since 2023 the city has taken direct control of the project: it razed the nightclub building, worked with an advisory committee on the design and lined up financing with Orange County, the state and private partners. Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Sonnet to Orlando," which he recited at the 2016 Tony Awards, is planned for inscription on the Survivor Wall, according to WLRN.

What's next

Crews are scheduled to begin grading and removing trees at the South Orange Avenue site on Nov. 25. Construction is expected to continue through 2027, with the city aiming to open the memorial before Dyer and Sheehan leave office in early 2028. The remaining budget pressure on lighting and electrical work will be the next cost issue to watch as the project moves from paper to construction.