Harold Nafash Joins Federal Realty Investment Trust's Northeast Acquisitions Team

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) today announced that Harold Nafash has joined the Trust as senior director of acquisitions, northeast.  Mr. Nafash will be based out of Hackensack, New Jersey, and will source and underwrite retail acquisitions in the Trust's core markets within the Northeast region, including metropolitan New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.

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Mr. Nafash brings over 35 years of retail real estate acquisition, development and leasing experience in the Northeast region to Federal Realty. For 13 years he served as Director of Real Estate for Lowes Corporation in the Northeast, where he was responsible for the strategic planning and the execution of acquisitions, development and opening of over 230 Lowes stores throughout the Northeast. While with Lowes Corporation, Mr. Nafash originated and closed over $2 billion of acquisitions and development joint ventures as a lead investment professional. Prior to Lowes Corporation, Mr. Nafash worked for three years with Home Depot, Inc., as a Senior Real Estate Manager for the Northeast Division. Before joining Home Depot, Mr. Nafash held senior positions in retail real estate at Forest City Ratner and Melville Realty Company. Mr. Nafash holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

"We are confident that Harold's extensive experience and long term relationships with owners and operators throughout the Northeast will allow us to source high quality retail properties for the Trust," said Barry Carty, vice president - East Coast acquisitions for Federal Realty. "We will continue our focus on properties with great population and income demographics, in areas with significant barriers to entry, where we can create value through leasing, operations and redevelopment."

About Federal Realty
In 2012, Federal Realty celebrates 50 years of being a proven leader in the ownership, operation, and redevelopment of high quality retail real estate in the country's best markets.   Federal Realty's portfolio (excluding joint venture properties) contains approximately 19.2 million square feet located primarily in strategically selected metropolitan markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, and California. In addition, the Trust has an ownership interest in approximately 1.0 million square feet of retail space through a joint venture in which the Trust has a 30% interest. Our operating portfolio (excluding joint venture properties) was 94.2% leased to national, regional, and local retailers as of June 30, 2012, with no single tenant accounting for more than 2.5% of annualized base rent. Federal Realty has paid quarterly dividends to its shareholders continuously since its founding in 1962, and has increased its dividend rate for 45 consecutive years, the longest record in the REIT industry. Federal Realty is an S&P MidCap 400 company and its shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbol FRT.  For more information, please visit 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. These factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 16, 2012, and include the following:

• risks that our tenants will not pay rent, may vacate early or may file for bankruptcy or that we may be unable to renew leases or re-let space at favorable rents as leases expire;
• risks that we may not be able to proceed with or obtain necessary approvals for any redevelopment or renovation project, and that completion of anticipated or ongoing property redevelopments or renovations may cost more, take more time to complete, or fail to perform as expected;
• risks that we are investing a significant amount in ground-up development projects that may be dependent on third parties to deliver critical aspects of certain projects, requires spending a substantial amount upfront in infrastructure, and assumes receipt of public funding which has been committed but not entirely funded;
• risks normally associated with the real estate industry, including risks that occupancy levels at our properties and the amount of rent that we receive from our properties may be lower than expected, that new acquisitions may fail to perform as expected, that competition for acquisitions could result in increased prices for acquisitions, that environmental issues may develop at our properties and result in unanticipated costs, and, because real estate is illiquid, that we may not be able to sell properties when appropriate;
• risks that our growth will be limited if we cannot obtain additional capital;
• risks associated with general economic conditions, including local economic conditions in our geographic markets;
• 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 limitations imposed on our operations by those covenants, and the possibility of increases in interest rates that would result in increased interest expense; and
• risks related to our status as a real estate investment trust, commonly referred to as a REIT, for federal income tax purposes, such as the existence of complex tax 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.

Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements that we make, including those in this press release. Except as may be required by law, we make no promise to update any of the forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should carefully review the risks and risk factors included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 16, 2012.

SOURCE Federal Realty Investment Trust