MIAMI— Federal Realty Investment Trust made headlines in May when it acquired an 80% stake in CocoWalk with joint venture partners Grass River Property and Comras Company. The companies paid $87.5 million for their stake in the 198,000-square-foot lifestyle center in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood.

Coconut Grove is attractive to many retail developers, investors and tenants. The city posts some of the strongest year-round income demographics in South Florida, a fast-growing daytime population with over 1 million square feet of office space within walking distance, five existing and three planned hotels, and one of Miami's best-performing residential markets.

We caught up with Chris Weilminster, executive vice president of Real Estate Leasing for Federal, to dive deeper on what attracted his firm to Coconut Grove and why his company partnered with two other firms on the deal in part one of this exclusive interview. Be sure to check out part two, in which he will discuss how the JV partners plan to change CocoWalk.