Houston-based MetroNational has started construction on a nine-story office building at 9753 Katy Freeway in its newest Memorial City mixed-use development.

The 190,000-square-foot office building was announced last year, along with a 332,231-square-foot apartment tower called The McKinley. The projects are going up four acres the southwest corner of Bunker Hill and the Katy Freeway. The McKinley, which will rise 25 stories high at 9757 Katy Freeway, broke ground  in July.

Kirksey Architecture designed the office building, which has 21,000 square feet of leasable space per floor. The project includes 4,500 square feet of first floor retail and restaurant space, a two-level lobby with public Wi-Fi, seating and conference rooms, and a second level skybridge connecting with an elevated parking garage. The building was designed with an outside patio with views of The Lawn greenspace.

The office building, which is breaking ground before securing tenants, aims to meet a growing demand from companies who want to be near retail and other amenities.

The buildings are part of a larger mixed-use tract between Bunker Hill and Memorial City Way on the south of the Katy Freeway.

“The new office tower will mark the completion of a 2.7-million square-foot campus in Memorial City,” Jason Johnson, president of MetroNational, said in an announcement. “Over the span of a decade, MetroNational has delivered a mixed-use environment that includes six Class A office buildings totaling 1.7-million square-feet, a brand-new Hotel ZaZa in Memorial City, and three luxury apartment high-rises.”

MetroNational, a privately-held real estate investment, development and management company, has been developing the 265-acre Memorial City since the early 1960s. To date, 9 million square feet of real estate has been completed, including the 1.7-million-square-foot Memorial City Mall.

Last year, the company initiated an expansion of Memorial City on 18 acres at the northwest corner of the Katy Freeway  and Gessner. That project will house new locations for Mia’s Table, Torchy’s Tacos and Kirby Ice House.