SAN FRANCISCO, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BRE Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BRE - News) today announced that its 39th Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held on Thursday, May 21, 2009, at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 222 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

The company also said it will provide proxy materials (Form 10-K, proxy statement and voting materials) to its shareholders on the Internet, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) "Notice Only" model of the Notice & Access rule. Under this model, shareholders will receive a notice that all proxy materials will be available on the Internet. Shareholders may opt to receive printed proxy materials, which will be mailed to them on request.

The notices will be mailed on or about April 1, 2009, to shareholders of record as of March 20, 2009. Printed proxy materials will be mailed on the same date to those who previously opted to receive them.

By using Notice & Access, BRE reduces its consumption of paper products, lowers mailing costs and enhances its financial reporting on the Web, a medium increasingly preferred by its shareholders.

About BRE Properties, Inc.

BRE Properties, based in San Francisco, Calif., owns and manages apartment communities convenient to its residents' work, shopping, entertainment and transit in supply-constrained Western U.S. markets. BRE directly owns and operates 72 apartment communities totaling 21,196 units in California, Arizona and Washington. The company invests in communities through acquisition and development, and currently has seven properties in various stages of development and construction, totaling 2,077 units, and joint venture interests in 13 additional apartment communities, totaling 4,080 units. BRE Properties is a real estate investment trust (REIT) listed in S&P MidCap 400 Index. For more information on BRE Properties, please visit our Web site at www.breproperties.com. (Property data as of 12/31/08)