Exhibit 13

FIRST UNION REAL ESTATE EQUITY AND MORTGAGE INVESTMENTS

AT THE COMPANY
Carolyn Tiffany
Chief Operating Officer
(617) 570-4614

FIRST UNION DISMISSES STATE COURT ACTION AGAINST SIZELER, WILL PURSUE MERITS OF
                             CASE IN FEDERAL COURT

      Boston, Massachusetts- March 22, 2005- First Union Real Estate Equity and
Mortgage Investments (NYSE:FUR) announced today that it filed to dismiss its
Maryland State Court action brought last week against Sizeler Property
Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SIZ) without prejudice. According to First Union's court
filing:

      "First Union dismissed this action in light of the extraordinary step by
      Sizeler Property Investors, Inc. and every member of its board
      individually to seek a declaratory judgment in the federal District Court
      of Maryland that their conduct in connection with the March 15, 2005 sale
      of stock at issue in the instant case was not a breach of fiduciary duty
      or otherwise improper. As First Union believes that it will prevail on the
      merits and does not wish to distract from the substantive questions by an
      ancillary dispute over the forum, it will join the issue in the federal
      court forum selected by Sizeler and its board."

      First Union notes that the judge in the State Court action stated "I agree
that [First Union] has, in my view, raised grave questions about this
transaction." Unfortunately, however, the Court concluded that because the stock
issuance had been consummated earlier that morning, shortly after it was
announced by Sizeler, he had no ability to issue the temporary restraining
order.

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      First Union Real Estate Equity and Mortgage Investments is a NYSE-listed
real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

      First Union Real Estate Equity and Mortgage Investments has filed with the
SEC a preliminary proxy statement with respect to its solicitation of proxies to
elect Michael L. Ashner, Peter Braverman and Steven Zalkind as directors at
Sizeler's 2005 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE
DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT
DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
You will be able to obtain the documents free of charge at the SEC's website,
www.sec.gov. First Union and Messrs. Ashner, Braverman and Zalkind may be deemed
to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of
Sizeler in connection with the annual meeting. Information about these
participants is set forth in the preliminary proxy statement filed by First
Union with the SEC. Investors may obtain additional information regarding the
interests of such participants by reading the definitive proxy statement when it
becomes available.