Federal Realty Investment Trust Announces Opening of New Giant Food and Pharmacy at Bethesda Row.

Business Editors

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2003

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) announces the opening of a new, state-of-the-art Giant Food and Pharmacy at Bethesda Row, the Trust's urban mixed-use community in Bethesda, Maryland.

The new store contains 62,000 square feet and 130 underground parking spaces in addition to 130 spaces at grade level. The projected incremental return on the Trust's $3.6 million investment approximates 14%. Since 1994, the Trust has invested nearly $70 million in the redevelopment of Bethesda Row.

Giant Food formerly operated two locations at Bethesda Row, a 23,000 square foot grocery store on the east side of Arlington Road and a 21,000 square foot pharmacy on the west side.

With the concepts combined, the east side of Arlington Road is available for additional redevelopment with a new building comprised of almost 60,000 square feet of retail space and approximately 180 residential units currently contemplated.

"By combining these two stores into one state-of-the-art grocery anchor, we are positioned to better serve the community," stated Pamela Brady, vice president, street retail leasing. "In addition, we will be able to augment our existing retail and restaurant offerings and add new residential to this already vibrant property."

"The construction of a newly expanded grocery anchor is a perfect example of our internal growth strategy that focuses on the redevelopment of existing assets," stated Don Wood, president and chief executive officer. "The high returns achieved on redevelopment allows us to take a disciplined approach to other capital deployment alternatives."

Bethesda Row, located in the heart of downtown Bethesda's Central Business District, contains more than 330,000 square feet of retail and office space and encompasses seven contiguous blocks. In addition to Giant Food and Pharmacy, principal tenants include Barnes and Noble, Landmark Theatres, Bang & Olufson, Lily Pulitzer and several restaurants such as Cafe Deluxe, Mon Ami Gabi, Jaleo and Centro.

Federal Realty Investment Trust is an equity real estate investment trust specializing in the ownership, management, development and re-development of shopping centers and street retail properties. Federal Realty's portfolio contains 15 million square feet located in major metropolitan markets across the United States.

The operating portfolio is currently approximately 95.5% occupied by over 2,000 national, regional and local retailers with no single tenant accounting for more than 2.6% of rental revenue.

Federal Realty has paid quarterly dividends to its shareholders continuously since its founding in 1962, and has increased its dividend rate for 35 consecutive years, the longest consecutive record in the REIT industry. Shares of Federal Realty are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FRT. Additional information about Federal Realty can be found on the Internet at www.federalrealty.com.

Safe Harbor Language

Certain matters discussed within this press release may be deemed to be forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Although Federal Realty believes the expectations reflected in the forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Federal Realty's expectations include:

-- Risks that our growth will be limited if we cannot obtain additional capital;

-- Risks of financing, such as our ability to consummate additional financings or obtain replacement financing on terms which are acceptable to us, our ability to meet existing financial covenants and the possibility of increases in interests rates that would result in increased interest expense;

-- Risks normally associated with the real estate industry, including risks that our tenants will not pay rent or that we may be unable to renew leases or relet space at favorable rents as leases expire, that new acquisitions and our development, construction and renovation projects, including our Santana Row project, may fail to perform as expected, that competition for acquisitions could result in increased prices, environmental risks, and, because real estate is illiquid, that we may not be able to sell properties when appropriate; and

-- Risks related to our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, such as the existence of complex regulations relating to our status as a REIT, the effect of future changes in REIT requirements as a result of new legislation and the adverse consequences of the failure to qualify as a REIT; and

-- Those risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

Federal Realty assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.