Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, says it has started work recently on three separate out-of-town retail projects under contracts totaling $3.2 million.

Baker broke ground last week on a 17,300-square-foot structure in Kennewick, Wash., that will house a pharmacy and retail store for the Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid Corp. chain, says Lucas Holmquist, a project manager for Baker.

Stantec Consulting Corp., a Redmond, Wash., subsidiary of Edmonton, Alberta-based design firm Stantec, designed the $1.9 million project, which is scheduled to be completed in early February, Holmquist says.

The Rite Aid store will be in a stand-alone building west of the Columbia Center Mall in northwest Kennewick, about 145 miles southwest of Spokane, he says.

In Billings, Mont., Baker has started work on a new convenience store and fueling station for Cenex Zip Trip, the Black Diamond, Wash.-based subsidiary of Inver Grove Heights, Minn.-based CHS Inc., Holmquist says.

That $750,000 project, which will include constructing a 3,800-square-foot building, is located in the central part of the city north of Interstate 90, about 540 miles east of Spokane, he says. Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, designed the project.

Separately, Baker last month started building a 12,000-square-foot retail store in Western Washington for San Diego-based Petco Animal Supply Stores Inc., says Brandon Spackman, Baker's vice president of construction services. That $600,000 project, located in Kent, Wash., about 20 miles southeast of Seattle, is scheduled to be completed late next month, he says. Ignarri-Lummis Architects LLP, of Cherry Hill, N.J., designed the project.