ORLANDO, Fla. – The Pulse nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 attack is now certain to remain standing as part of a future permanent memorial.

"onePulse envisions that the 4,800 square foot building, or significant portions of it, will remain standing and be integrated into the overall design of the future memorial," the onePulse Foundation said.

Barbara Poma, executive director of onePulse Foundation, said board members have visited sites of other tragedies like Oklahoma City and 9/11 to solicit best practices.

"After all of the research that’s been done and the historians we have spoken to, it’s not always common to actually have the physical structure intact," Poma said. "We feel although it is hard for our generation to look at every day that in 50 to 100 years, the next generation and the next will have a chance to have a better understanding if they can experience it."

FINDING THE RIGHT DESIGN

The foundation launched an international design competition in an effort to solicit preliminary bids from "teams" who want to help develop the National Pulse Memorial and Museum. After an April deadline, the foundation’s select members of a board will choose six finalists who will have until this fall to develop design ideas.

The designs will go on display by early October, with a final decision made by the end of October.

RELATED: National Pulse Memorial Museum International Design Competition Request for Qualifications

The permanent memorial complex could cost approximately $50 million, of which only $15 million has been raised so far. Poma said she believes once designs are publicized, it will encourage public support and donations.

"It’s always about our 49, it’s always about our survivors and the first responders," she said.

MEMORIAL, MUSEUM, SURVIVOR’S WALK

Foundation leaders want the final designs to focus on three components: memorial, museum, and a survivor’s walk.

"The memorial is a place you’ll come to reflect, pay your respects and really bear witness to the attack," Poma said. "The museum is our education component, where you’ll go to learn about what safe spaces are, why they’re important and why Pulse was so important to the LGBTQ community, as well as the step-by-step of the attack and the response."

The site is expected to be designed with a mass amount of feedback in mind. The foundation released findings in January 2018 of more than 2,000 people surveyed, including survivors and victim family members. Respondents of the survey said they wanted a permanent memorial.

The foundation estimates the permanent memorial could draw upwards of 600,000 visitors in the first year when it opens in 2022.

It is expected the site will include the 30,000 square foot museum as well as outdoor, public gathering and performance space. More than 7,000 artifacts and pieces, currently held by Orange County Regional History Center, are also expected to be part of a permanent display.

Firms will be tasked with not only designing museum and memorial space, but also a survivor’s walk. It could include elaborate displays stretching from the Pulse site on South Orange Avenue, north along the route to Orlando Regional Medical Center and ultimately ending at Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center downtown.

"The survivor walkway is so important to us, taking that six-tenths of a mile walk down Orange Avenue because it shows how our survivors reached treatment, if it wasn’t for Orlando Regional Medical Center being so close to us that number would have been a lot higher than 49, so that’s part of the story, that’s part of the experience," Poma said.

Many credit ORMC’s close proximity to the nightclub with helping to save countless lives. Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center was the site where thousands would gather in prayer, vigil, and remembrance. It is also where President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden paid their respects in the days after the attack.

Pulse nightclub sits on the corner of the busy South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street in south downtown Orlando. It is surrounded by a tint and dealing shop to one side, medical offices on another, and fast food restaurants in front.

While the foundation is visualizing a memorial and museum larger than the plot of land it owns currently, questions remain on how and where the project may expand.

"We’re looking in the adjacent area to do this, but we haven’t confirmed any of the locations just yet, but we are looking at it as a much bigger urban planning project, that we make sure we have created great flow for traffic, for parking, for experience, all of that will come in the master plan that will come through the refinements of the design," Poma said.

The design refinements could take up to a year after the preliminary designs are selected in October.

The foundation is hopeful to have the museum, memorial, and survivor’s walk all open at the same time in 2022.

The final design will be approved by a select group of jurors, which includes:

Barbara Poma (executive director, onePulse Foundation)
Mayra Alvear (mother of victim Amanda Alvear)
Ricardo Negron-Almodovar (survivor)
Mayor Buddy Dyer (City of Orlando)
Mayor Jerry Demings (Orange County)
George Kalogridis (president, Walt Disney World)