FRANKFURT, Germany—Toronto-based Avison Young has expanded in Germany with the opening of an office in Frankfurt that will be lead by 13-year European veteran Udo Stoeckl.

Mark Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, announced the move on Monday.

“Our new office in Germany represents the next step and a milestone in Avison Young's company history,” Rose said. “Germany represents one of the most dynamic commercial real estate markets in the world, both from a domestic and international investment perspective. Furthermore, any company that claims to be a global entity must have a significant presence in Frankfurt – and, now, with Udo on board, we do.”

The new office represents Avison Young's first location in Germany and continental Europe, the firm's third office outside of North America, and an additional step in the company's ongoing aggressive global growth and expansion strategy.

Over the past five-and-a-half years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 62 offices in 51 markets and from 300 to more than 1,700 real estate professionals in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. 

Stoeckl will serve as managing director of the Frankfurt office. He also holds the title of principal.

Stoeckl will head up the company's German operations and will work with future principals in Germany to implement the firm's growth strategy. He will be responsible for growing a full-service commercial real estate platform in Frankfurt and assist with Avison Young's expansion across Germany through recruitment and acquisition.

“By opening an office in Frankfurt, we have, effectively, established ourselves in the heart of the continental European commercial real estate marketplace,” Rose adds. “The Frankfurt office will serve as a launch pad for further growth throughout Europe and enable us to develop new client relationships – and strengthen existing ones in the U.K., U.S. and Canada.”

Stoeckl, who joined Avison Young in 2011 to advise European and North American capital-markets clients on their cross-border activities, will continue to serve clients on both continents with cross-border transactions.

Stoeckl began his real estate career in 2001 as a trainee at Commerzbank. In 2004, he started as an analyst with Commerz Real AG in Dusseldorf before becoming acquisition manager for North American commercial real estate markets. In 2011, Stoeckl joined Avison Young to head the firm's European/North American cross-border activities. Since then, he has facilitated transactions throughout North America and Europe totaling $450 million.

Avison Young launched its European presence in April 2014 when the firm acquired NAI Haywards and opened new offices in London and Thames Valley.

“I'm very excited to be spearheading our expansion activities in Germany,” states Stoeckl. “We will continue to grow through our principal-led strategy in Germany and recruit top real estate professionals throughout the country. We have already advised clients on transactions in London and Cologne, and we're looking forward to announcing additional transactions in the very near future.”

Also joining Stoeckl in Frankfurt is Simone Meudt as administrative assistant. Meudt will work closely with Stoeckl to support the expansion initiative.

Frankfurt is the financial services center at the heart of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region where 5.52 million inhabitants live. Approximately 365,000 companies and a workforce of 2.88 million people produce an annual GDP of $250 billion (€200.5B).

Today's announcement comes on the heels of Avison Young acquiring Orlando, Florida-based MCRE, LLC (dba Morrison Commercial Real Estate) and opening a new office in Orlando on November 13.