Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, has begun site work for a $600,000 retail center at the northeast corner of Mission Avenue and Ruby Street, where a building that housed a former Chapter 11 steakhouse was razed earlier this year.

Tom Quigley, of Spokane-based Kiemle & Hagood Co., says one of the four spaces in the planned commercial center has been leased to a franchisee of Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches, based in Champaign, Ill. Kiemle & Hagood is the property manager and leasing agent for the project, and Quigley is a managing member of RPIC LLC, a partnership that is developing the project.

The 5,900-square-foot building has been designed so it appears to have four distinct storefronts, and it will be constructed of concrete block with brick accents. Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, designed the project, Quigley says. It should be completed by about the beginning of March, he says.

He says the strip center will fit in with the surrounding Gonzaga University area, and it's hoped it will attract tenants similar to the planned sandwich shop that will appeal to university students as well as to motorists on Ruby who are on their way home from work at the end of the workday.

"We're glad it's on the going home side of the street," Quigley says.