BOSTON—Commercial brokerage firm Cresa continues its international expansion program with the opening of a new office in Budapest, Hungary.

The new office represents the first Central Europe office for the Boston-based brokerage firm that specializes in tenant/occupier representation. Cresa earlier this year opened offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Argentina, and most recently, Hong Kong and has plans for another six new international offices as well.

The company recently opened a new office in Tampa Bay, FL and has plans for additional domestic locations later this year.

Cresa merged with the former VLK Consulting to form Cresa Hungary, which will provide transaction management, site selection, and project management for office, industrial, and retail tenants/occupiers.

“Budapest is a financial hub in Central Europe, and we saw an opportunity to bring our occupier-only commercial real estate expertise to this key, growing market,” says Richard Rhodes, Cresa CEO and managing partner of Cresa Washington, DC. “We are responding to increased market demand among companies for tenant and occupier-only services. There is a void of tenant representation firms in Hungary, and this allows us to add great value with our objective, conflict-free, integrated services model.”

Valter Kalaus, managing principal at Cresa Hungary and former managing principal at VLK, will lead the eight-person Budapest office. The firm is also looking to recruit new talent. No financial details of the merger transaction were announced.

“We have similar values to Cresa as we only represent corporate space users,” Kalaus says. “Joining forces with a strong international firm like Cresa allows us to strengthen our business and enhance our ability to serve as an advocate for our clients.”

Earlier this year, Cresa executives detailed the firm's expansion plans to Globest.com in a two-part series. At press time, the company maintains more than 60 offices in North America and 75 markets worldwide.