A 10,000-square-foot building near the Country Mercantile in Richland is poised to bring new retail or other commercial development to a growing area near Badger Mountain. 

Groundbreaking on the two-story building is expected this month, and construction should be finished in about a year, said Derrick Stricker of Stricker CRE in Kennewick. 

Stricker and Jazmine Murillo are the leasing brokers. 

The building will sit on about 2 acres owned by Revive Land LLC next door to Country Mercantile in the Badger Mountain South master planned community. 

It will have space for three to six tenants, Stricker said. 

“We’re excited about this,” he said, noting that possible tenants could range from shops to eateries, offices and medical providers. One end-cap suite will be configured with a drive-thru. 

The lease rate is $34 a square foot (plus triple net) for the end cap and $30 a square foot (plus triple net) for the other suites. The landlord is offering a $50,000 tenant improvement allowance per suite.

Hummel Construction & Development is the general contractor. 

The area has seen transformational growth in recent years, with the annual population growth within 1 mile of the new building swelling by more than 150% between 2010 and 2023, according to information from Stricker CRE. 

The population was 2,349 people within 1 mile, 17,428 within 3 miles and 69,663 within 5 miles last year. 

Those numbers are expected to continue increasing in the next several years. 

“This is a community that’s blossoming and growing,” Stricker said, and “this is a chance (for businesses) to get in right now.” 

He added that, “this will hopefully open up supply for some pent-up demand. We have businesses that have been dying for 1,500, 2,500, 5,000 square feet for a second location, a fifth location, but there’s nowhere to go,” he said. 

The building is the first of three slated for the property. The project is called Badger Mountain Square.