Three months after acquiring CocoWalk, a 198,000-square-foot lifestyle center in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, the ownership team led by Federal Realty Investment Trust, Grass River Property and The Comras Company has completed leases with five pop-up stores and Chase Bank.
CocoWalk’s newest slate of retailers includes two longtime Coconut Grove businesses relocating from the Engle building across the street — Catch AWave surf shop and Via Art Gallery. The center also is adding a trio of upscale men’s and women’s boutiques: Edite Mode, GCK International and Vicky Victoria, whose owner operates a sister store nearby along Main Highway. A new 3,000- square-foot Chase Bank branch will open on the center’s ground floor along Grand Avenue.
Catch A Wave, Edite Mode, Via Gallery and Vicky Victoria are now open for business; GCK International currently has an online presence and will open its CocoWalk store soon.
The Chase branch, now under construction, will open in the fourth quarter of this year. The Comras Company, part of CocoWalk’s new ownership team, negotiated the five pop-up leases on behalf of ownership.
“More so than most Miami neighborhoods, Coconut Grove enjoys a strong identity as being walkable, accessible and appealing to locals and visitors, with CocoWalk positioned as the village’s retail anchor,” explained Michael Comras, president of The Comras Company. “Anytime we can generate additional consumer foot traffic and help longtime Grove businesses remain in the neighborhood, as we’ve done by adding Catch A Wave and Via Gallery, we’re making progress toward our vision of a redeveloped CocoWalk that’s home to contemporary fashion brands, vibrant cafés and lifestyle tenants that draw locals.”
Since purchasing CocoWalk for $87.5 million in May, the joint venture has actively been listening to Coconut Grove businesses and residents with the goal of incorporating community feedback into the joint venture’s longterm plans for the property.
“The three months we’ve spent engaging our neighbors have been incredibly insightful,” said Chris Weilminster, executive vice president for real estate and leasing at Federal Realty. “The Grove benefits from a strong urban infrastructure, but we see a disconnect between the area’s affluent residential base and the retail mix at CocoWalk. Our new pop-up stores, which benefit from local operators and loyal customer bases, are an initial step in the right direction. Longterm, we plan to add new local, regional and national tenants while creating more connectivity with surrounding streets. Everything is on the table so long as it adds value for our tenants and the neighborhood.”
Situated at the prominent intersection of Main Highway, McFarlane Road and Grand Avenue, CocoWalk is located minutes away from Miami’s Brickell, Downtown, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne neighborhoods. Coconut Grove benefits from some of the strongest year-round income demographics in South Florida, a fast-growing daytime population with over one million square feet of office space within walking distance, five existing and three planned hotels, proximity to a number of prominent schools, and one of Miami’s best-performing residential markets.
