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Pulse To Re-Open Under Same Name At Different Site, Owner Says

Photo: Matthew Peddie, WMFE
Photo: Matthew Peddie, WMFE

The owner of Pulse says she is planning on re-opening the gay nightclub in a different location.

Barbara Poma tells 90.7 News she is planning on re-opening Pulse under the same name at a location as close as possible to the site of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

She says the new club will be similar to the original because that is what supporters and former staffers say they want when they have gathered at Pulse events since the massacre.

"The comment is it doesn't feel like home. It doesn't feel like Pulse, and I say, Well, when I build you a new one it's not going to be just like home. So I think what the message is, it needs to be as much as it can be in its original form."

Poma announced earlier this week she feels a personal obligation to transform the site of the shooting into a permanent memorial to the 49 who died.

She said she's decided against selling the building to the city.

 

Amy Green covered the environment for WMFE until 2023. Her work included the 2020 podcast DRAINED.