INVESTORS

CHICAGO, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), the nation's largest provider of diversified industrial real estate, today announced that Wallace G. Murfit has been named senior investment officer. He will be responsible for acquisitions in San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040106/FRLOGO )

Mr. Murfit joins First Industrial with nearly 30 years of commercial real estate experience in Northern California. Most recently he was a partner with Jackson-Shaw Company, where he was responsible for acquisitions, financing, construction management, leasing, property management and dispositions of office and industrial properties. Prior to that, he was senior vice president, Northern California for WCB Properties, where he was responsible for the operations of a 2.2 million square foot office and industrial portfolio. He also was a vice president at Hillman Properties, a national real estate investment and development company. Mr. Murfit earned his masters of business administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business and his bachelor of arts in political science and economics from Wesleyan University.

"Wally's extensive experience in Northern California will help us to grow our customer relationships, increase our portfolio and expand our national platform," said James Carpenter, executive director of investments. "Creating industrial real estate solutions is our mission, and Wally is uniquely qualified to assist customers -- no matter how complex their needs may be. We welcome him to our team."

Mr. Murfit will be based out of First Industrial's new Northern California office located at 1900 South Norfolk Street, Suite 350, San Mateo, CA 94403. He can be reached at 650-577-2323.

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc., the nation's largest provider of diversified industrial real estate, serves every aspect of Corporate America's industrial real estate needs, including customized supply chain solutions, through its unique I-N-D-L operating platform, which utilizes a pure Industrial focus and National scope to provide Diverse facility types, while offering Local, full-service management and expertise. Building, buying, selling, leasing and managing industrial property in major markets nationwide, First Industrial develops long term relationships with corporate real estate directors, tenants and brokers to better serve customers with creative, flexible industrial real estate solutions.

This press release contains forward-looking information about the Company. A number of factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including changes in: economic conditions generally and the real estate market specifically, legislative/regulatory changes (including changes to laws governing the taxation of real estate investment trusts), availability of financing, interest rate levels, competition, supply and demand for industrial properties in the Company's current and proposed market areas, potential environmental liabilities, slippage in development or lease-up schedules, tenant credit risks, higher- than-expected costs and changes in general accounting principles, policies and guidelines applicable to real estate investment trusts. For further information on these and other factors that could impact the Company and the statements contained herein, reference should be made to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc.
01/18/2005
CONTACT: Sean P. O'Neill, SVP, Investor Relations and Corporate
Communications, +1-312-344-4401, or Mike Daly, Director, Investor Relations
and Corporate Communications, +1-312-344-4320, both of First Industrial Realty
Trust, Inc.
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(FR)