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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

OR

For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 1-07533

FEDERAL REALTY INVESTMENT TRUST

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Declaration of Trust)

909 Rose Avenue, Suite 200, North Bethesda, Maryland 20852

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

(301) 998-8100

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ☐ Yes ☒ No

The aggregate market value of the registrant's common shares held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing sales price of the registrant's common shares on June 30, 2020 was $6.4 billion.

The number of registrant’s common shares outstanding on February 8, 2021 was 76,747,943.

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FEDERAL REALTY INVESTMENT TRUST

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the Registrant’s annual meeting of shareholders to be held in May 2021 will be incorporated by reference into Part III hereof.

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PART I

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are forward-looking statements. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Federal Realty Investment Trust (“we” “our” or “us”) and members of our management team, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based, and generally are identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “seeks,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “should” or similar expressions. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Further, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time, unless required by law.

The following are some of the risks and uncertainties, although not all risks and uncertainties, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those presented in our forward-looking statements:

• 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 redevelopment or renovation projects that we do pursue may cost more, take more time to complete or fail to perform as expected;

• risk 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 costs associated with the periodic maintenance and repair or renovation of space, insurance and other operations may increase, 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 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;

• 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; and

• risks related to natural disasters, climate change and public health crises (such as the outbreak and worldwide spread of COVID-19), and the measures that international, federal, state and local governments, agencies, law enforcement and/or health authorities implement to address them, may precipitate or materially exacerbate one or more of the above-mentioned risks, and may significantly disrupt or prevent us from operating our business in the ordinary course for an extended period.

In addition, we describe risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially in “Risk Factors” (Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K), “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” (Part II, Item 7A), and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” (Part II, Item 7).