Shenandoah will soon have its own Granite tower.

Granite Properties, a Dallas-based company that operates properties in the Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Denver areas, is planning to build a 10-story office building in the city.
Shenandoah's City Council amended the Planned Development District requirements for the Vision Park development to allow for the building and its accompanying parking garage. The previous maximum building height allowed in the development was six stories.
"I'm excited about the possibilities of it," Councilman Wes Stephens said before voting to change the PDD. "It can certainly do a lot for Shenandoah."
Granite Properties plans to construct a building with 250,000 square-feet of class A office space. The 6.62 acre piece of land the building will be constructed on is located just off Vision Park Boulevard, directly to the west of Café Adobe.
Parking for the tenants of the building will be handled by a four-story parking garage - which also required a change in the PDD by the Council - and paved parking.
"It will definitely be a landmark for the city, but hopefully not an imposing landmark," said Granite Properties' Development Manager Aaron Bidne.
Bidne said the building would be constructed out of masonry and glass, similar to the company's Sugar Creek towers in Sugarland. A similar layout, with two slightly-smaller buildings, was considered in Shenandoah, but the size of the property would not allow for it, he said.
The building will also be constructed in an effort to become Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified. LEED certification is given based on how a building is rated as a sustainable green building.
According to the U.S. Green Building Council, which provides the certification, there are five key areas of "human and environmental health" that are taken into consideration for the ratings. They are: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
Granite Properties then hopes to land "at least one large multi-floor tenant," Bidne said.
The building size would allow for that tenant to eventually expand its offices if necessary. Anchor tenants in Granite's other buildings include an oil company and a medical research company.
Vision Park currently has a strong medical presence, and two other hospitals are in development in the area. Bidne said he expects that some of the tenants in the building will be medical related, including possibly doctors or insurance company offices.
The biggest concern raised by council members was whether or not the site would provide enough parking. The proposal Granite Properties brought forward included fewer parking spaces than required for other properties in the Vision Park PDD.
The Council approved a change in the PDD for the property after receiving assurances from the developer that its parking-to-space ratio still meets the Urban Land Institute's recommendations.