ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County Commission on Tuesday discussed the future of the property that was once intended to house a Pulse museum.

The onePULSE Foundation was expected to use the property on Kaley Street to honor the 49 lives lost in the Pulse Nightclub shooting tragedy, but the nonprofit recently announced it is dissolving and leaving plans for the museum behind.

According to county leaders, onePULSE spent $6.5 million in Tourism Development Tax funds on the projected museum. The county had gifted onePULSE $10 million in TDT funds for the foundation to buy the property and create designs. 

The county is looking to receive financials, including bank statements from onePULSE, after accusing the group of breaching an agreement with the county for creating unauthorized license agreements with an outside company. The foundation could be liable for damages.

County leaders said they will need to do physical examinations of the property itself, as well as an environmental site assessment. 

County officials claim the Nassal company may have been using chemicals inside the building, and the county is not sure exactly what sort of things could have been going on inside. 

They said they will need to draft a termination agreement, in which it could take months to get everything done. 

County officials also noted that a state grant provided $400,000 for the project for a different cultural center, but that it would need to be completed by 2029. If that doesn’t happen, the money will need to be paid back, which the county could be on the hook for. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners expressed disappointment that the PULSE museum never came to fruition. However, members of the onePULSE Foundation say funding was a major part of their downfall. 

“On the development side, revenue, what we were starting to find out was that people, corporations in particular, had very little interest in donating toward a memorial. And just as little toward a museum,” onePULSE vice chair George Kalogridis said. “I’m very sorry, as all of us are, that it’s not going to happen. As it would be an amazing project.”

Commissioners also floated the idea of allocating funding so that they can bring a museum to the property themselves. 

What You Need To Know

  • OnePULSE was gifted $10 million from Orange County in Tourism Development Tax (TDT) dollars for the museum

  • The project was slated for a property on Kaley Street, which is down the road from the nightclub site

  • In a letter, Orange County leaders accused onePULSE of violating agreements by licensing the property

  • As the foundation now dissolves, it leaves behind museum and permanent memorial projects that never came to fruition

Cracks in the foundation

News of the foundation dissolving came after cracks in the nonprofit appeared this year.

In April, the nonprofit’s founder, Barbara Poma, stepped away from the organization. Poma was also the co-owner of Pulse Nightclub.

Soon after, onePULSE announced it would not be able to build a permanent memorial on the site of the nightclub property. It was a project which was separate from the museum. OnePULSE said it was not able to come to an agreement with owners Barbara and Rosario Poma to receive the property.

Last month, the city of Orlando purchased the Pulse nightclub property to end the seven-year waiting game for families who wanted to see a permanent memorial come to fruition.

OnePULSE was still expected to finish its museum project on Kaley Street. However, those plans came to a halt after Orange County officials accused the organization of violating agreements, and then the foundation later announced the dissolution of the organization.

“Unfortunately, best intentions are not enough. We have been challenged by unexpected and definitive events, among them the inability to secure a full donation of the Pulse Nightclub site from the property owners and a global pandemic that brought with it critical limits and many unanticipated consequences, that ultimately impacted our fundraising efforts,” the organization wrote in part.

In a statement, the foundation said it is offering the city of Orlando and Orange County access to all existing planning and design materials. It’s unclear if Orange County will head up the museum project similar to how the city of Orlando has taken over the memorial plans.

The group “Pulse Families and Survivors for Justice“ sent out a statement regarding the dissolution of the onePULSE Foundation, saying, “For years, we have criticized the onePULSE Foundation for exploiting and harming us. They never fulfilled any of their three changing mission statements. While we are grateful that they are shutting their doors, we still demand a forensic audit so that they are held accountable to their donors and to taxpayers for the millions wasted.”