PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - 02/24/10) - Essex Property Trust, Inc., (NYSE:ESS - News) a real estate investment trust (REIT) with apartment communities located in targeted West Coast markets, announced that its Board of Directors has approved a $0.01 per share annualized increase to its regular cash dividend. Accordingly, the first quarter dividend distribution, payable on April 15, 2010 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2010, will be $1.0325 per share. On an annualized basis, the dividend represents a distribution of $4.13 per common share.

The Board of Directors declared quarterly distributions of $0.48828 and $0.30469 per share, which represent annual distributions of $1.9531 and $1.2188 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 June 1, 2010 to shareholders of record as of May 14, 2010. Distributions for the 4.875% Series G Cumulative Convertible Preferred shares are payable on April 30, 2010 to shareholders of record as of April 1, 2010.

The Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 1:00 p.m., at the Stanford Park Hotel, located at 100 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Shareholders of record as of February 26, 2010 will be entitled to vote at the meeting.

Essex Property Trust, Inc., located in Palo Alto, California and listed 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 133 multifamily properties (27,248 units), and has 581 units in various stages of development. Additional information about Essex can be found on the Company's web site at http://www.essexpropertytrust.com/.