Approximately $700 Million in Securities Affected.

New York, August 20, 2002 -- Moody's Investors Service has placedthe Baa2 senior unsecured debt and Baa3 preferred stock ratings ofFederal Realty Investment Trust under review for possibledowngrade. According to Moody's, this review has been prompted bythe destruction in a fire of a major component of the REIT'sSantana Row mixed use development project in San Jose, California.Santana Row accounts for approximately 15% of the REIT's investmentin real estate properties. As of June 30, 2002, Federal Realty hasspent $329 million to build Phase I of the project, which itanticipated to complete in 2003 for a cost of about $500 million.The fire destroyed approximately half of the residential space inthe development, and damaged to a not yet determinable extent 18%of the development's retail space. Federal Realty expected to havethe retail component of the project, which has been 60% pre-leased,to open on September 19, 2002, and to have a substantial number ofresidential units ready for occupancy in the fourth quarter of2002. Moody's believes that the undamaged space in the project isunlikely to be ready for this scheduled opening, while completionof Phase I of the Santana Row development is likely to bedelayed.