Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, is constructing a new $15.6 million Costco Wholesale Corp. membership warehouse store, at 12020 N. Newport Highway, north of Spokane, where site work is well underway. 

The retail warehouse will occupy 167,000 square feet of space, and the project also will include a 10,400-square-foot fueling station and an 819-space parking lot.

Seattle-based MG2 Corp. is the architect.

The Newport Highway site is more than a mile north of the Spokane city limits and about 3 1/2 miles north of the current north Spokane Costco store, at 7619 N. Division.

The new store will replace the north Spokane Costco outlet, meaning the county will benefit from one of the Spokane-area’s largest single generators of sales tax revenue that the city currently receives.

Steve Ridenour, of Spokane-based commercial real estate brokerage NAI Black, says the current Costco location on Division Street is in escrow with California-based Rich Development Enterprises LLC. That company is offering warehouse space with options to lease either the whole warehouse or just parts of the building.

Ridenour says the building is drawing interest from prospective tenants and most likely will be converted to a multitenant facility.

The new Costco site is on 20 acres of land, which is part of a mostly undeveloped 433-acre parcel owned by Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Kaiser Aluminum Investments Co. The larger parcel is part of a tax-increment financing district, which is intended to attract further economic development with the potential to reimburse developers who construct public infrastructure improvements.

Kaiser’s former Mead industrial plant closed in 2000.

Costco also operates stores at 6501 E. Sprague, in Spokane Valley, and at 355 E. Neider, in Coeur d’Alene.