ORLANDO, Fla. — Over the past week, hundreds of people have visited the Pulse nightclub in Orlando to honor the 49 people killed in 2016.
In the years since the shooting, plans for a permanent memorial have been slow to develop, with the expected opening of a site expected sometime in 2022.
Read: 6 years later: Vigil honors 49 lost in Pulse tragedy
Now 9 Investigates has confirmed through property records that 61216 Orange LLC, whose registered agent is the onePulse board chairman, has purchased two parcels near the current memorial site.
The locations at 21 W. Esther St. and 20 W. Kaley St. were purchased for $1 million in May.
See a map of the properties below:
Read: See what the permanent Pulse memorial, museum could look like
On Monday, onePulse Foundation, the nonprofit established following the tragedy, released a statement about the purchase.
“onePulse Foundation has purchased a half-acre parcel of land adjacent to Pulse nightclub to be used as part of the future site of the National Pulse Memorial,” the statement said.
Funding for the purchase of the properties came from private sources, including two grants from the Truist Charitable Fund and Truist Foundation totaling $250,000.
In design renderings released in late 2019, plans call for a museum, a survivor’s walk connecting the Pulse site to Orlando health, and a memorial at the site of Pulse itself with a gathering space and garden overlooking the space.
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