Companies: Essex Property Trust Inc.

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - 09/17/09) - Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - News), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in apartment communities located in highly desirable, supply-constrained markets, announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.03 per common share, payable October 15, 2009 to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2009.

The Board of Directors declared quarterly distributions of $0.48828 and $0.30469 per share on its 7.8125% Series F Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares and its 4.875% Series G Cumulative Convertible Preferred shares, respectively. Distributions for the 7.8125% Series F Cumulative Redeemable Preferred shares are payable on December 1, 2009 to shareholders of record as of November 13, 2009. Distributions for the 4.875% Series G Cumulative Convertible Preferred shares are payable on November 2, 2009 to shareholders of record as of October 5, 2009.

Essex Property Trust, Inc., located in Palo Alto, California and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ESS), is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast communities. Essex currently has ownership interests in 132 multifamily properties (27,102 units), and has 585 units in various stages of development. Additional information about Essex can be found on the Company's web site at www.essexpropertytrust.com.