GlobeSt.com: What have been some of the key turning points in your career?

Lowenstein: I have expanded and diversified the company's breath and scope in the past 20 years. I shifted the business from a real estate-owning business to one that also includes development, management and finance across a geographically diverse collection of assets

I worked with my father to continue to ensure a smooth generational transition of the family business. There was also the development of the Ritz Carlton South Beach, a major conversion of a family legacy asset that my grandfather acquired in 1971. We developed the Epic Hotel & Residences, the most successful mixed-use development in Downtown Miami of the prior cycle. And creating the joint venture with the Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels.

MIAMI—A multi-generational commercial real estate firm, Lionstone Development has a 50-year track record of owning, developing, leasing, and managing hospitality and residential properties across South Florida. The company's CEO, Diego Lowenstein, has been part of family's varied business interests across several countries for more than 25 years.

Lionstone has developed projects like The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbor, 605 Lincoln Road, and Virgin Hotel Chicago. GlobeSt.com caught up with Lowenstein to get a look at how his career has evolved in the family-owned business in part one of this exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: How did you get your start in commercial real estate?

Lowenstein: I represent the third generation of the family business which dates back to the mid-1960s when it began acquiring significant hotel and commercial properties in South Florida. I was personally involved in the 1990s in acquisition and development of commercial retail property in Argentina. Our company there developed the largest shopping center in the country and had significant real estate presence in street-fronting properties throughout Buenos Aires.

GlobeSt.com: What have been some of the key turning points in your career?

Lowenstein: I have expanded and diversified the company's breath and scope in the past 20 years. I shifted the business from a real estate-owning business to one that also includes development, management and finance across a geographically diverse collection of assets

I worked with my father to continue to ensure a smooth generational transition of the family business. There was also the development of the Ritz Carlton South Beach, a major conversion of a family legacy asset that my grandfather acquired in 1971. We developed the Epic Hotel & Residences, the most successful mixed-use development in Downtown Miami of the prior cycle. And creating the joint venture with the Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels.