DORAL, Fla. – A special honor was given Wednesday for one of the victims of the Surfside condo collapse, almost one year to the day since the tower fell.
“She wouldn’t think this was reality. She wouldn’t think her name is as big as it is now -- how many lives she was able to impact without her even being here,” the victim’s brother, Martin Langesfeld, said.
Officials in Doral officially renamed a nine-block stretch of Northwest 114th Avenue in honor of Nicole “Nicky” Langesfeld, who was among the 98 people who died in the collapse last year.
While Nicole Langesfeld lived in Surfside, she originally grew up in Doral not far from the street that now bears her name.
“Everyday she would drive down this street, run by this street, bring her dogs to this park over here,” her brother said. “It’s a very meaningful event for us to be able to do this under her name.”
“Anytime you honor someone, it’s better to do it when they’re alive then when they passed away because it’s very bittersweet. And today is a bittersweet moment, but it’s an important moment, because her legacy will live on right by the area where she grew up,” Doral Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez said.
Just six months before the tragedy, Nicole Langesfeld, who attended law school at the University of Miami, married her husband, Luis Sadovnic, who also died in the catastrophic collapse.
Nicole Langesfeld’s family now hopes her legacy will live on thanks in part to the street now named in her honor.
“This street is not going anywhere,” Martin Langesfeld said. “When I’m gone, when you’re gone, it’s going to stay here forever. And it’s beautiful that nearly one year later, we’ve been able to do so many things to memorialize my sister, who was taken in a horrific way.”