Developers want to lease at least 90,000 sf in the 270,000sf building before construction starts. Preliminary financingrequirements and city approvals have been met. Construction is expected totake about 19 months to complete.

Jon Copaken, with developers Copaken White & Blitt, said he is veryconfident that tenants will be signed before the April 1 deadline.Currently, a strong candidate to fill some of the office space isCentury Business Services Inc., a Cleveland-based company that wantsto combine two Kansas City offices. The company is also looking at CrownCenter, Corporate Woods and Leawood Town Center Park.

Demand for class A office space on the Country Club Plaza is high.Valencia Place, completed last winter, is already 90% leased. Therate at Valencia Place is $28 per sf, the highest in the areaand the rate proposed for Plaza Colonnade.

The Plaza Colonnade is to be built atop a new two-story librarythat will have 50,000 sf of space, including a 250-seatauditorium. Also planned is a two-story retail building, condominiumsand a parking lot with more than 1,100 spaces.