Nearly three years after a building being demolished collapsed onto a Center City Philadelphia thrift store, killing six and injuring 13 others, city officials helped break ground on a memorial to the victims.
Mayor Jim Kenney was joined by representatives from the city and Salvation Army as well as victims families Wednesday morning for a ceremony marking the beginning of the June 5th Memorial to be built on the collapse site at 22nd and Market streets.
Roseline Conteh, Borbor Davis, Kimberly Finnegan, Juanita Harmon, Mary Simpson and Anne Bryan died in the collapse.
Three tall granite stones with two windows in each -- one to represent each of the victims -- will make up the memorial. The victims' names will be etched into the granite.
Artist Barbara Fox, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, designed the memorial. The park, which was designed by a team of volunteers and professionals, is also expected to include stone benches, trees and ornamental grasses. Officials have estimated its cost at $1.3 million, in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars in donated work.[[306101501, C]]
The Salvation Army donated the land to the city and private donors have raised some of the endowment needed for the memorial but around $335,000 still needed to be raised. (Click here to donate)
