ORLANDO, Fla. — Visitors to a planned museum near downtown Orlando to honor the 2016 Pulse shooting victims and families would start their visit several blocks away from the nightclub, city improvement documents show.
- City documents show Pulse museum site is 1/2 mile away from nightclub
- Documents also show plans for new landscaping, sidewalk additions
- Foundation expects to pick design for permanent plans by end of October
- JUMP TO: ▼ Interactive map showing locations of Pulse, museum property ▼
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Long-term plans for a permanent memorial site and museum near Pulse, where there's currently a temporary memorial.
The onePulse Foundation confirms it's entered into a contract to buy the property at the corner of Kaley Street and Division Avenue, where the Pulse museum will be located. That's several blocks down from the nightclub, which is on South Orange Avenue and Kaley Street.
It would be about a 10-minute walk from the nightclub to the museum. Visitors would cross through what's right now a mostly industrial area, and over railroad tracks.
At this point, it’s unclear exactly what changes the permanent plans would include, but the city of Orlando streetscape improvement plans for the area show the city already is planning enhancements such as sidewalk additions and landscaping to further separate cars from pedestrians.
Several design teams are now working on plans.
Kelly Clerveaux says he didn’t truly understand the tragedy which happened at Pulse until he visited the nightclub site.
"When you come here and see their faces, their ages, you see the building and the bullet holes, it’s definitely a greater empathy you feel for these people," he said.
On Friday, Clerveaux brought friends visiting from out of town to the temporary memorial at Pulse.
"These people were the same age as me, people just trying to have fun on the weekend. Now their life is gone," he said.
Clerveaux is looking forward to one day visiting the permanent memorial and museum.
"I don’t think it’s too far, it’s a good walk, especially in the fall. Maybe in the summer it would be too hot, but in the fall, it would definitely be worth it."
Clerveaux says the permanent museum and memorial will give him and others a better understanding of what Pulse victims and survivors went through.
"It’s definitely a place I would visit a lot and definitely a place where I would bring my friends to come along," he said.
The onePulse Foundation said it will likely pick a final design for permanent plans by the end of October.
The final plans aren’t expected to be complete until summer 2022.