Essex Announces Ventura County Acquisition and Silicon Valley Participating Loan.

Business Editors/Real Estate Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2000

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) today announced the acquisition of Mariners Place, a 105-unit apartment community located in Oxnard, California, and the closing of a participating loan to finance the acquisition of 526-unit Mountain Vista Apartments, located in Fremont, California.

Mariners Place was acquired for a contract price of $7.6 million. The property is a garden style apartment community located in Ventura County's thriving City of Oxnard. In addition to its superior location and appealing design, Mariners Place is centrally located in Oxnard 's business district and Highway 101. Built in 1987, Mariners Place consists of 55 one-bedroom and 50 two-bedroom apartment homes. Value-added amenities include a swimming pool, spa, garages, and a security perimeter fence.

Essex originated a $14.6 million participating loan to finance the acquisition and redevelopment of 526-unit Mountain Vista Apartments, located in Fremont, California. Essex funded $9.5 million at the closing, with the balance to be disbursed as required to fund the $5.6 million renovation of the property. Essex's loan is in a mezzanine position, subordinate to $40.5 million in existing and seller-provided financing, and senior to the developer's $5.5 million capital contribution. The loan matures in four years, with interest at 11.5 percent per annum. In addition, Essex will participate in 25 percent of any profits to the extent that they exceed 11.5 percent of the contributed equity of Essex and the developer.

Keith R. Guericke, Essex's President and Chief Executive Officer commented that, "These investments further Essex's core strategy of investing in the strongest and most dynamic west-coast markets. Our research continues to point to Ventura County and Silicon Valley as having a significant shortage of new housing, while job growth continues to outpace the nation. These conditions support our belief that additional rental growth in these markets will occur."

Essex Property Trust, Inc., located in Palo Alto 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. The Company currently has ownership interests in 72 multifamily properties (15,840 units), and has 1,044 units in various stages of development. Additional information about Essex can be found on the Company's web site at www.essexpropertytrust.com. If you would like to receive future press releases via e-mail-please send a request to [e-mail].

The statements which are not historical facts contained in this release such as the Company's beliefs regarding targeted returns on investments, future internal growth and expectations regarding the timing of future leasing activities, future redevelopment projects and future development projects are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to be different than such forward looking statements, including, but not limited to, market demand, the effect of economic conditions, the timing of development and renovation projects, the impact of competition and competitive pricing, the result of financing efforts, the effect of the Company's accounting policies and other risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.