Final rendering revealed for Center City building collapse memorial

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- A special ceremony is being held to mark the second anniversary of a deadly building collapse in Center City.

Six people were killed and more than a dozen hurt when a building came crashing down on a Salvation Army store at 22nd and Market streets.

Today, friends, family and city officials are coming together to remember the victims.

And family members of the victims had an opportunity to see the finally renderings of what the June 5th Memorial will look like. They were also given replicas of the memorial during today's solemn ceremony.

Nancy Winkler, who lost her daughter Anne in the collapse, said this of the memorial: "Touching and fitting. It will add beauty and hope to a place that's now associated with horror."

She said, "We, the family and friends of the victims, miss them terribly. But this memorial is about more than our own personal loss. Philadelphia can and must do better. Our mission is to make sure no other family will ever suffer the terrible pain that we know."

On June 5, 2013 six people died when a building being demolished suddenly collapsed in the 2100 block of Market Street, burying the neighboring Salvation Army Thrift Store in a pile of rubble.

Now three large granite panels reflecting a house will stand in the very place people lost their lives.

Six colored windows representing the six who died are in the memorial. Each color was chosen by the victims' families.

Maggy Davis, the wife of one of the victims, explains, "He used to love blue, and I like blue too. So I buried him in blue."

Mayor Michael Nutter says the memorial will be a symbol of reflection.

The mayor says, "When they talk about the windows and kind of this concept of a window to your soul, I mean, I think it's going to be quite breathtaking and spectacular."

The project itself will cost $1.3 million. Half of that has already been raised, and this morning Mayor Nutter announced that the city is going to donate another $300,000.

The goal is to have the memorial completed and open come this time next year.