How can I display row header in a tablix when the tablix is empty?

I have a requirement in SSRS2008R2 to display a tablix as part of a multi-tablix report page. When there is no data to display in the tablix, the requirement is to display the row headers anyway as a placeholder. This is a report being migrated from Crystal and the Users want the same look and feel in the new version.

Is there a way to display the header (row headers) when the tablix contains no data? Do I need to force an empty row in the stored procedure? If so, what is the best method to accomplish this?

Thanks!

I offered a NoRows message that no data was found, but that was shot down...