Leigh Anne Ahr with Betz Commercial Brokerage Inc. in Houston tells GlobeSt.com that the project will cost $2 million to $3 million to build. The office building is in the design phase, awaiting permitting and final approvals from the city. In the interim, proposals have been floated to prospective tenants, she confides.

Ahr says the office building plan took root two months ago when Legacy Business Center's 91,450 sf of office/warehouse space hit 75% occupancy. Now, the twin buildings are 90% filled. The structures, with a quoted rent of 75 cents per sf, were built in 2001 on a 10.5-acre tract in the 63-acre, master-planned Legacy Business Park.

Betz Commercial originally planned four buildings for the tract, but downsized the plan to adjust to the market. Ahr says it's taken a few years of slow, but steady leasing to fill the office/warehouses. "The Houston real estate market has appeared sluggish if not stagnant," she says. "However, we have had slow, steady absorption of new developments."