The new building will cost more than $20 million, says DavidHarrison, general manager of the Kansas City Opus office. Hiscompany will receive about $21.5 million tax abatements in the next15 years, the term of the BKD lease, with a bonus if the company isable to gain LEED Silver certification. The city recently approvedthe incentive package. "Now we're just down to the final elementsof the transaction, we should be able to close on the ground andbegin the project in the next 30 days," he tells GlobeSt.com. Theproject should be complete by late 2009, Harrison says.

The other 20,000 sf will be leased out to smaller tenants, hesays. "We anticipate tenants in the 2,000 sf to 15,000 sf range. Idon't think we want just one other tenant. We've had a few callsalready, though we think we'll see more activity in the market nextyear, when tenants of that size in the area will be looking forspace," Harrison says. The asking rate will be around $23 per sf,full service, he says.

He says the market is a ways from Kansas City, but that it's"extremely interesting. There's Missouri State University, and fourother universities in that area," Harrison says. The community, thethird largest city in the state, also has developments such as anew baseball stadium and indoor arena in the Downtown.