Artemis to open LA office, expands team

 Artemis Real Estate Partners is opening a new office in Los Angeles this month to be headed by William Dunbar, who has joined the firm as principal of acquisitions and asset management. Dunbar will focus on acquisitions on the West Coast for Artemis’ first real estate fund, Artemis Fund I, which held a final close on $436 million in commitments in January. He will be joined by Alison Hawkins, a principal in charge of investor relations, who is relocating from the firm’s Chevy Chase, Maryland headquarters. Dunbar will report to Alex Gilbert, Artemis’ president and head of acquisitions.

Dunbar previously worked at Paladin Realty Partners, a Los Angeles-based private real estate investment firm, where he most recently was a partner and managing director of US investments. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of acquisitions at Greystone Realty.

Artemis, which was launched in 2009 by Penny Pritzker and Deborah Harmon, also has recruited two senior hires to work on its $300 million separate account with the New York Common State Common Retirement Fund. Careina Williams will be responsible for acquisition and asset management for the separate account, which will focus on identifying and investing with emerging managers in major US markets. Before joining Artemis, she served as principal of investments at Capri Capital Partners, where she led many of the firm’s urban investments. She will work under portfolio manager James Smith, who is overseeing the NY Common mandate.

Additionally, James Patterson has joined as a vice president and will be handling financial reporting for the separate account as well as the firm’s first fund. He comes to Artemis from JER Partners, where he was responsible for accounting, investor reporting and cash management, and will report to Brad Berkley, the firm’s chief financial officer. Patterson is the seventh former JER employee to join Artemis, which also includes alums Gilbert, Harmon, Smith and Berkley.

Artemis, which now has a staff of 19, is due to grow further, as the firm is seeking an additional senior acquisitions professional, who would be based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, to focus on East Coast acquisitions for Artemis Fund I.