NYSE: FRT

We were founded in 1962 as a REIT under the laws of the District of Columbia and re-formed as a REIT in the state of Maryland in 1999. In January of 2022, we consummated the UPREIT reorganization described in the Explanatory Note at the beginning of this Annual Report. We operate in a manner intended to qualify as a REIT for tax purposes pursuant to provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Our principal executive offices are located at 909 Rose Avenue, North Bethesda, Maryland 20852. Our telephone number is (301) 998-8100. Our website address is www.federalrealty.com. The information contained on our website is not a part of this report and is not incorporated herein by reference.

Business Objectives and Strategies

Our primary business objective is to own, manage, acquire and redevelop a portfolio of high quality retail focused properties that will:

•provide increasing cash flow for distribution to shareholders;

•generate higher internal growth than the shopping center industry over the long term;

•provide potential for capital appreciation; and

•protect investor capital.

Our portfolio includes, and we continue to acquire and redevelop, high quality retail in many formats ranging from regional, community and neighborhood shopping centers that often are anchored by grocery stores to mixed-use properties that are typically centered around a retail component but also include residential and office components.

Operating Strategies

We continuously evaluate and assess our operating strategies to ensure they are effective and put us in the best position to address changes in the market. We actively manage our properties to maximize rents and maintain occupancy levels by attracting and retaining a strong and diverse base of tenants and replacing less relevant, weaker, underperforming tenants with stronger ones. Our properties are generally located in some of the most densely populated and affluent areas of the country. These strong demographics help our tenants generate higher sales, which has generally enabled us to maintain higher occupancy rates, charge higher rental rates, and maintain steady rent growth, all of which increase the value of our portfolio. Our operating strategies also include:

•increasing rental rates through the negotiation of contractual rental increases during the term of the lease, the renewal of expiring leases or the leasing of space to new tenants at higher rental rates while limiting vacancy and down-time;

•maintaining a diversified tenant base, thereby limiting exposure to any one tenant’s financial or operating difficulties;

•actively managing the merchandising mix of our tenant base to achieve a balance of strong national and regional tenants with local specialty tenants;

•minimizing overhead and operating costs;

•actively managing the physical appearance of our properties and the construction quality, condition and design of the buildings and other improvements located on our properties to maximize our ability to attract customers and thereby generate higher rents and occupancy rates;

•managing our properties to take into account their impact on climate change and their resilience in the face of climate change;

•developing local and regional market expertise in order to capitalize on market and retailing trends;

•leveraging the contacts and experience of our management team to build and maintain long-term relationships with tenants;

•providing exceptional customer service; and

•creating an experience at many of our properties that is identifiable, unique and serves the surrounding communities to help insulate these properties and the tenants at these properties from the impact of on-line retailing.

Investing Strategies

Our investment strategy is to deploy capital at risk-adjusted rates of return that exceed our long-term weighted average cost of capital in projects that have potential for future income growth and increased value. Our investments primarily fall into one of the following four categories:

•acquiring quality retail and mixed-use properties located in densely populated and/or affluent areas where barriers to entry for further development are high, and that have possibilities for enhancing operating performance and creating value through renovation, expansion, reconfiguration and/or retenanting;

•renovating, expanding, reconfiguring and/or retenanting our existing properties to take advantage of under-utilized land or existing square footage to increase revenue;

•renovating or expanding tenant spaces for tenants capable of producing higher sales, and therefore, paying higher rents; and

•developing the retail portions of mixed-use properties and developing or otherwise investing in non-retail portions of mixed-use properties we already own in order to capitalize on the overall value created in these properties.

Investment Criteria

When we evaluate potential redevelopment, retenanting, expansion, acquisition and development opportunities, we consider such factors as:

•the expected returns in relation to our short and long-term cost of capital as well as the anticipated risk we will face in achieving the expected returns;

•the anticipated growth rate of operating income generated by the property;

•the ability to increase the long-term value of the property through redevelopment and retenanting;

•the tenant mix at the property, tenant sales performance and the creditworthiness of those tenants;

•the geographic area in which the property is located, including the population density, household incomes, education levels, as well as the population and income trends in that geographic area. This may from time to time include the evaluation of new markets;

•competitive conditions in the vicinity of the property, including gross leasable area (GLA) per capita, competition for tenants and the ability of others to create competing properties through redevelopment, new construction or renovation;

•access to and visibility of the property from existing roadways and the potential for new, widened or realigned, roadways within the property’s trade area, which may affect access and commuting and shopping patterns;

•the level and success of our existing investments in the market area;

•the current market value of the land, buildings and other improvements and the potential for increasing those market values; and

•the physical condition of the land, buildings and other improvements, including the structural and environmental condition.

Financing Strategies

Our financing strategies are designed to enable us to maintain an investment grade balance sheet while retaining sufficient flexibility to fund our operating and investing activities in the most cost-efficient way possible. Our financing strategies include:

•maintaining a prudent level of overall leverage and an appropriate pool of unencumbered properties that is sufficient to support our unsecured borrowings;

•managing our exposure to variable-rate debt;

•maintaining sufficient levels of cash and available line of credit to fund operating and investing needs on a short-term basis;

•taking advantage of market opportunities to refinance existing debt, reduce interest costs and manage our debt maturity schedule so that a significant portion of our debt relative to our size does not mature in any one year;

•selling properties that have limited growth potential or are not a strategic fit within our overall portfolio and redeploying the proceeds to redevelop, renovate, retenant and/or expand our existing properties, acquire new properties or reduce debt; and

•utilizing the most advantageous long-term source of capital available to us to finance redevelopment and acquisition opportunities, which may include:

◦the sale of our equity or debt securities through public offerings, including our at-the-market ("ATM") equity program in which we may from time to time offer and sell common shares including through forward sales contracts, or private placements,

◦the incurrence of indebtedness through unsecured or secured borrowings including exchangeable debt,

◦the issuance of units in our operating partnership (generally issued in exchange for a tax deferred contribution of property); these units typically receive the same distributions as our common shares and the holders of these units have the right to exchange their units for cash or common shares at our option, or

◦the use of joint venture arrangements.

Human Capital

At February 9, 2026, we had 314 full-time employees and 6 part-time employees. None of our employees are represented by a collective bargaining unit. We believe that our relationship with our employees is good. We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer, and strive to maintain a workplace that is free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.

Health, Safety, and Wellness

We are committed to the health, safety, and wellness of our employees, and foster an environment that allows our people to succeed while balancing work and life. We provide our employees with access to health and wellness programs, which includes benefits that support both physical and mental health. We have also transitioned to a hybrid work model.

Compensation and Benefits

We provide competitive pay and benefits including health, dental, vision, short and long-term disability, life insurance and a 401(k) retirement program, as well as a generous paid time off program that includes vacation, sick, and personal leave. In addition to our equity awards program, we also reward employees with spot bonuses for stellar performance or going above and beyond the base requirements of their job description.

Talent Development

Employees have access to a variety of different training courses, books, book summaries and audio books, and an array of source materials covering a myriad of different business and soft skills training subjects. Additionally, we provide reimbursement for tuition and professional licenses.

Community Involvement

Giving back to the community is an integral part of who we are and what we do. We provide ample ways to give back through programs at our properties or charitable endeavors and volunteer opportunities that also serve as team building exercises for our employees.

Tax Status

We elected to be taxed as a REIT under the federal income tax laws when we filed our 1962 tax return. As a REIT, we are generally not subject to federal income tax on taxable income that we distribute to our shareholders. Under the Code, REITs are subject to numerous organizational and operational requirements, including the requirement to generally distribute at least 90% of taxable income each year. We will be subject to federal income tax on our taxable income (including, for our taxable years ending on or prior to December 31, 2017, any applicable alternative minimum tax) at regular corporate rates if we fail to qualify as a REIT for tax purposes in any taxable year, or to the extent we distribute less than 100% of our taxable income. We will also generally not qualify for treatment as a REIT for federal income tax purposes for four years following the year during which qualification is lost. Even if we qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we may be subject to certain state and local income and franchise taxes and to federal income and excise taxes on our undistributed taxable income.

We have elected to treat certain of our subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries, which we refer to as a TRS. In general, a TRS may engage in any real estate business and certain non-real estate businesses, subject to certain limitations under the Code. A TRS is subject to federal and state income taxes. Our TRS activities have not been material.

General Economic Conditions

Significant uncertainty continues within the macro-economic environment including inflation risk, changes in interest rates, new or higher tariffs and their impact on trade and prices, increases or decreases in federal government spending, and potentially worsening economic conditions, which presents risks for our business and tenants. We continue to monitor and address risks related to the general state of the economy. We believe the actions we have taken to maintain a strong financial position and reinforce our liquidity will continue to mitigate the negative short term impacts of the current economic environment. The extent of the future effects on our business, results of operations, cash flows, and growth strategies is highly uncertain and will ultimately depend on future developments, none of which can be predicted.

Governmental Regulations Affecting Our Properties

We and our properties are subject to a variety of federal, state and local environmental, health, safety and similar laws. Please see