Three high-rise office buildings are under construction in Houston, though the city has an office vacancy rate of 22.5 percent. The new building has raised fears that the city's high vacancy rates will be a long-term phenomenon, as tenants move to newer buildings and leave older ones empty.

The symbol of Houston's high vacancy rate are a pair of 18-story office buildings sitting empty in the Galleria area, one of the city's prime office markets.

But just 10 miles away, a 20-story office tower is under construction for British Petroleum Exploration Inc.; BMC Software is building a 20-story, 588,000-square-foot headquarters building; and Friendswood Development Co. is completing the 19-story, 425,000-square-foot Anadarko Tower for Anadarko Petroleum Corp.