Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, Essence Development

Mr. Joel Patterson serves as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions at Essence Development, bringing over a decade of experience across the affordable housing real estate industry.

Prior to joining Essence, Mr. Patterson served as Senior Vice President of Development at Dantes Partners, where he led all aspects of planning and design, managed predevelopment activities, established capital deal structures, and oversaw construction financing and acquisition closings for numerous projects throughout the DMV area, closing and securing over $250 million in financing.

Before joining Dantes, Mr. Patterson was a Development Manager at PIRHL, where he served as primary lead on closing approximately $70 million in multifamily affordable housing developments across New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Patterson began his career as a real estate consultant with Sherick Project Management, which later became Stone Sherick Consulting Group. During his tenure there, he was involved in securing and managing $50 million in affordable, special needs, and commercial housing projects, serving as owner's representative to non-profit and governmental agencies across Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey.

Mr. Patterson is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), where he sits on a national product council, and serves as a board member of AAREP DC (the African American Real Estate Professionals of DC). He devotes time to mentoring young professionals transitioning into careers in commercial real estate.

Mr. Patterson holds degrees from Columbia University and Syracuse University.