Orlando will buy Pulse nightclub and turn it into a memorial


Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced the city has reached a deal to buy the Pulse nightclub, the site of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, from its owner for $2.25 million. The club will be turned into a memorial to remember the victims of the June massacre.
Dyer told the Orlando Sentinel "the city won't rush to change the club, once a mainstay in the gay community that has become a gathering place for visiting and local mourners alike." The site will remain as-is for 12 to 18 months while the city reaches out to the community for ideas for the memorial. The city council will vote next week on the purchase and it will be finalized at the end of the year.
The Pulse nightclub shooting killed 49 people and injured 53 more. The gunman, Omar Mateen, was killed in a shootout with the police.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ricky Soberano is the social media editor at TheWeek.com. Her writing has appeared in Complex, Nylon, Gothamist, Maxim, and others. Previously she was the culture editor for The Stony Brook Press and contributing editor for The Odyssey. She has a B.A. in multidisciplinary studies in journalism and dance from Stony Brook University and an A.S. in dance from Queensborough Community College. She's lived in Brooklyn her whole life, eats too much ramen, and freelance models, and she enjoys writing about the undiscovered and underreported within the sphere of culture. Follow her on Twitter.
-
5 jackbooted cartoons about L.A.'s anti-ICE protests
Cartoons Artists take on National Guard deployment, the failure of due process, and more
-
Some of the best music and singing holidays in 2025
The Week Recommends From singing lessons in the Peak District to two-week courses at Chetham's Piano Summer School
-
Crossword: June 14, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attack
Speed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival