Orlando City Council has chosen a Winter Park design firm to build a memorial commemorating the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. The deadly mass shooting, one of the most deadly in modern U.S. history, killed 49 people — most of whom were people of color and LGBTQ+ — and injured more than 50.
“That was one of the darkest days in the history of our community, but as always, Orlando has responded with love and compassion and unity, and today we take two more steps in recognizing what happened that day,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer during a City Council meeting Monday afternoon.
Gomez Construction Co., the top-ranking firm chosen by city staff and design experts through a bidding process, was approved by the City Council unanimously Monday to build a permanent memorial that’s estimated to cost $12 million. Other top-ranking firms behind them include Precision Building Construction, based in Orlando, and Friedrich Watkins Construction, based in Tampa. The approval of ranking recommendations by City Council allows for city staff to negotiate and execute a contract with the top firm.
Founded in Miami, Gomez Construction Co. has previously done work for the Orlando International Airport (MCO), securing contracts through the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, a government entity overseeing the airport that Dyer sits on as a board member. The firm’s portfolio, spanning the Central Florida and Miami areas, includes various hotel, hospitality and urban construction projects, including a meeting and event space at the Art + History Museums — Maitland and the Ruby Tuesday restaurant at MCO.
The city of Orlando took over the project of building a permanent memorial to commemorate the Pulse nightclub shooting in late 2023, after the OnePulse Foundation — a nonprofit formed by one of the club’s former owners shortly after the tragedy — announced it would be giving up the project. The nonprofit, which raised millions of dollars from government and private donors to build a memorial, later dissolved itself in disgrace after burning through its money, paying its founder a six-figure salary, and going into debt.
“The organization raised millions of dollars but failed to build anything,” said City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, whose district includes Pulse. Even the interim memorial that’s still present outside the former club today was donated, according to Sheehan.
“While what OnePulse did to this community was horrible, it can’t keep us from building a permanent memorial on the site,” she said.
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Also on Monday — as the second Pulse-related action referenced by Dyer — Orlando City Council gave the OK to purchase a property adjacent to Pulse that was previously owned by the OnePulse Foundation.
Local businessman Craig Mateer — who formerly served on the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority board with Dyer — bought that adjacent property from OnePulse in 2023 for $1 million, at the request of city officials.
“At the time, we asked Craig to step in and purchase that and hold that property for us,” said Dyer. “He did so, and he’s selling it to us.”
Mateer, a Gov. Ron DeSantis ally and “major supporter” of DeSantis’ failed 2024 presidential campaign, will be paid the same $1 million by the city that he bought the property for, plus $30,000 in closing costs, according to city documents.
The adjacent property was necessary to build out the working design concept approved by city officials and an advisory committee of Pulse survivors, victims’ family members and other community members affected by the shooting.
The design concept isn’t quite as garish — or expensive — as the $100 million museum project the OnePulse Foundation had previously unveiled. According to current design plans, the memorial would, in part, incorporate a visitors pavilion, a rainbow prism plaza, a survivors wall, and a reflection pool built on the same location as the club’s former dance floor, among other elements.
The full design process is expected to be completed by June 2026, with construction expected to begin next summer. The memorial is slated for completion by the end of 2027, although Dyer admitted Monday he hopes that they would instead be able to complete it by that summer.
The city itself has committed $7.5 million to the $12 million project, and recently secured an additional $5 million commitment from the Orange County government. Nearly $400,000 in state funding, secured through an appropriations request submitted by local lawmakers, will also support the memorial’s construction.
City Commissioner Jim Gray, representing District 1, said he hopes city staff will start looking into the anticipated operational and maintenance costs of the memorial soon as well.
“We want it to be a best-in-class facility, and so we need to make sure we’ve got the funds allocated to maintain it and and to keep it in good order.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner Robert Stuart, representing District 3, said he hopes the collaboration between the city and the county on this project will “inspire” private donations from individuals in the community for the memorial.
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This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2025.
