Florida City street to be renamed for teen killed in shooting. Work begins on new development.

The Florida City Commission unanimously approved the renaming of Northwest 8th Place between Northwest 12th Street and Northwest 14th Street to honor Noricia Talabert during a recent meeting.

Talabert died in a shooting that took place on October 17, 2015. She was caught in the crossfire of a shooting incident. She had been dropping a friend off at her home after they had gone to dinner and was not involved with the person who fired the gun.

“She was age 17 and a student at South Dade Senior High School. The street that she was killed on will be renamed after her. We are renaming this street because we want to focus on reckless gun violence. We want people to be aware of the damage it does in the community. This was a young high school woman who was in the prime of her life and she was killed in a situation that did not involve her,” said Mayor Otis Wallace.

The street has been renamed but a formal ceremony is pending.

“We will have a formal ceremony,” said Wallace.

The old Strano building has been completely demolished and the land is now being prepared for Ocean Gate Village.

All the rubble from the buildings is being removed.

A section on the south portion of the building was dissembled and shipped to Kansas.

“This was the biggest demolition in the history of Florida City,” said Mayor Otis Wallace. “The building was among the oldest in the City. I remember working in that building when I was age 14 it was old then. That building was the oldest commercial structure in Florida City.”

The demolition was the first phase of the construction of a new mixed used development that will include a grocery store, restaurants, office space and housing.

“The developer is projecting a grocery store, restaurants, a drug store and office space. There will be some other commercial uses. We have recruited certain businesses that provide the necessities of life for people. This project will be good for Florida City because it will provide employment opportunities and it will increase the tax base for Florida City,” said Wallace.

There will be a smaller residential component in the south portion of the site that will include townhomes and apartments. The apartments will be in tower structures.

Work is continuing on roads in Florida City. Northwest Sixth Avenue is about to reopen and work has begun on Northwest Fourth Avenue some of the nearby side streets.

Also, the Florida City CRA is in the process of selecting a contractor to rebuild the playground at Washington Park. The project will cost more than $1.3 million and will include completely new playground equipment and a rubberized mat to increase the safety for children while they are playing. There will be new sidewalks for parents and their baby strollers. There will be new and improved climbing equipment.

“This new playground equipment will be like nothing in the area,” said Jon Ward, executive director for the CRA.

“It will be a fun and safe place for children to play.”