Triangle Brick Company, one of the state's biggest brick manufacturers, is building a new corporate headquarters and showroom - about 20 feet away from its current digs off N.C. 55, along an edge of Wake County that has a Durham mailing address but sits in Cary's limits.

In a sluggish housing market, the brick business has slowed. But that might make it a good time for the company to worry about its own housing, according to Scott Mollenkopf, the company's chief executive.

The current buildings, which will be demolished after the new construction is complete, have been in use by the company since 1960.

"Certainly we're optimistic [the brick business] will be good in the long term," he said. "With the way the market is going, now's the time to build if you have the money."

The 18,000 square foot project - twice the size of the company's current offices - needs to annex its land to the town to move forward with the expansion. It's expected to get a preliminary thumbs-up at a Cary Town Council meeting on Thursday. The vote would assert that the property is eligible for incorporation. A separate public hearing on the annexation will take place in September.

Triangle Brick's headquarters currently has 18 employees, but its payroll has gone up to 25 when business was better. The company hopes to move by 2011, Mollenkopf said.

Triangle Brick is just the latest company to move further into Cary's borders.

MMI Public Relations, which has a Raleigh address but resides on the Cary side of the towns' border, bought a pair of buildings at 223 E. Chatham St. MMI is expected to move in by the end of the year, said MMI founder Patty Briguglio, whose 6-year-old company has 22 employees and represents 60 clients including Lenovo, Bayer CropScience and the Carolina Mudcats.

Other items on the agenda for Thursday's meeting:

Amendments to the land development ordinance, including proposals to allow town-owned facilities and services to be allowed by right within zoning districts and requiring permanent foundation for manufactured homes.

Feedback on landscape design guidelines for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority's Triangle Expressway project. The town's comments focus on improving revegetation along existing and developing sites such as Cameron Pond.

A new financial guarantee plan for the stalled Peninsula at Amberly development, which would allow Cary to resume issuing building permits on a per-lot basis.

The meeting is Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall, at 316 N. Academy Street.