Related Party Transactions	6 Months Ended
Related Party Transactions	Jun. 30, 2011
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]
Related Party Transactions	(5) Related Party Transactions Management and other fees from affiliates include management, development and redevelopment fees from co-investments of $1.4 million and $1.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and $2.6 million and $2.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and a property acquisition fee of $0.5 million from the limited liability company that owns Skyline at MacArthur Place for the six months ended June 30, 2010. All of these fees are net of intercompany amounts eliminated by the Company. An Executive Vice President of the Company invested $4.0 million for a 6% limited partnership interest in a partnership with the Company that acquired a 50% interest in a limited liability company that acquired Essex Skyline at MacArthur Place. The Executive Vice President's investment is equal to a pro-rata share of the contributions, and distributions resulting from distributable cash generated by Essex Skyline at MacArthur Place will be calculated in the same manner as the calculation of distributions to the third party investor. The Executive Vice President does not participate in any promote interest or fees paid to the Company by the Essex Skyline at MacArthur Place joint venture.

The entire disclosure for related party transactions, including the nature of the relationship(s), a description of the transactions, the amount of the transactions, the effects of any change in the method of establishing the terms of the transaction from the previous period, stated interest rate, expiration date, terms and manner of settlement per the agreement with the related party, and amounts due to or from related parties. If the entity and one or more other entities are under common ownership or management control and this control affects the operating results or financial position, disclosure includes the nature of the control relationship even if there are no transactions between the entities. Disclosure may also include the aggregate amount of current and deferred tax expense for each statement of earnings presented where the entity is a member of a group that files a consolidated tax return, the amount of any tax related balances due to or from affiliates as of the date of each statement of financial position presented, the principal provisions of the method by which the consolidated amount of current and deferred tax expense is allocated to the members of the group and the nature and effect of any changes in that method. Examples of related party transactions include transactions between (a) a parent company and its subsidiary; (b) subsidiaries of a common parent; (c) and entity and its principal owners; and (d) affiliates.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-Section S99
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-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(k))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6881521&loc=d3e23780-122690

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
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-Section 04
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Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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-Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS)
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-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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