The city of Orlando has bought Pulse Nightclub for $2.25 million, the site of the deadliest mass shooting in US history in June, with the intention of turning into a memorial. Mayor Buddy Dyer tells The Orlando Sentinel that the club will remain untouched for the next 12 to 18 months while the city determines exactly what should be done with it.
Dyer and Orlando will solicit community input about what to do with the club. Options include leaving at least part of the current structure intact, especially the now-iconic sign and logo.
Dyer's intent, he tells the Sentinel, is to "create something to honor the memory of the victims that are deceased [and] those that were injured, and a testament to the resilience of our community."
Mourners have flocked to the nightclub since June 12, the night of the massacre. The club hasn't been open since then, but visitors have left tokens to remember the tragedy. Those token have been collected and preserved by Orlando's History Center.
The city feels that purchasing the club will allow them to secure it and ameliorate the negative effects on surrounding businesses. There has been at least one break-in to the club, about a month after the shooting, and some surrounding businesses have been disrupted by the parade of mourners.
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