Orange County may be on the hook to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds if it inherits property from the soon-to-be dissolved onePulse Foundation, county commissioners were told Tuesday in the latest messy revelation from the struggling effort to memorialize the Pulse nightclub tragedy.

The organization is seeking to hand over a 1.7-acre property at 438 Kaley Street once intended for a museum honoring victims and telling the story of the 2016 massacre.

The onePulse Foundation bought the site on September 2019 with the help of a $10 million grant of hotel tax funds, also referred to as tourist development taxes or TDT. To date, Orange County has handed over about $6.5 million of those funds to the nonprofit for building a museum – $3.5 million to purchase land and $3 million on design costs. But plans for the museum have now been abandoned, though local leaders remain committed to some sort of permanent memorial.

County Attorney Whitney Evers revealed Tuesday that another significant source of revenue for the construction of a memorial and museum came through a separate agreement between onePulse and the state, involving a $500,000 restricted grant that would require the owner of the property to repay funds if a “cultural facility” is not built on the site within 10 years of the donation.

“That means there needs to be a cultural facility there sometime before 2029,” she told commissioners. “If that is not resolved before the property is conveyed back to the county, the county could be on the hook to repay that obligation.”

The amount of the obligation is $400,000, which is about how much onePulse has drawn down the state’s donation, Evers said.

Commissioners also discussed last week’s revelation the onePulse Foundation was in default on its TDT agreement with Orange County for leasing out portions of the planned museum property to another local business without obtaining county approval as was required. onePulse has said only that the lease money went to operating expenses, raising questions about exactly how it was used.

“We asked them to terminate those license agreements within 60 days and to keep the property insured until it was conveyed back to the county,” Evers said. The county also asked OnePulse for board minutes and financial documents, in order to ensure TDT funds were not mismanaged.

But Christopher Dawkins of the Orange County Comptroller said his office has not yet received those requested documents, which are to include bank statements with cancelled checks for all TDT money.

Before it accepts the Kaley Street land, the county’s real estate management team will be conducting a title review, appraisal, environmental site assessment and a physical inspection of the property. The county’s attorney office will also be developing a draft termination agreement with the terms and timing of the conveyance.

At the meeting, commissioners expressed regret over the lack of progress on a dignified, lasting memorial for the survivors and family members of victims of the Pulse shooting.

“It is definitely unfortunate that as a community we find ourselves in the relative position that we are in now with the likely dissolution of the onePulse Foundation,” Orange County Jerry Demings said.

George Kalogridis, vice chair of the board of trustees at onePulse, defended his organization.

“Your project, the one that you funded, I feel very proud that the process was accurate,” he said. “We had the right eyes on costs on everything that you could possibly plan for. We did a good job, I think so. And I’m very sorry, as all of us are, that it is not going to happen because it would have been an amazing project.”

But several Orange County commissioners emphasized a desire to investigate how funds were spent by the nonprofit.

“It’s very frustrating and disappointing to be at this point here today,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe, whose district includes the former nightclub grounds. “I think for the public and for these families, if [Orange County] can’t do it, we should ask the state to look into this. We should ask the IRS to look into this because there has to be some accountability of the million of dollars over all these years that have been spent.”

arabines@orlandosentinel.com