RETAILING

Construction has begun on Newport North Shopping Center, a 45,000-square-foot neighborhood center at MacArthur Boulevard and Bison Avenue. The $8.5-million center is being built under a partnership between Irvine Retail Properties Co., a division of the Irvine Co., and SDC Development of Newport Beach. It will include an upscale convenience market and delicatessen plus 25 shops and services. . . . In Westminster, the J.A. Stewart Construction Co. has been awarded a $1.5-million contract to start construction on the Liberty Square Shopping Center in that city. The project will be a 25,277-square-foot neighborhood center and a 13,000-square-foot building pad for a future two-story office building. It is located on the Southwest corner of Brookhurst Street and Bolsa Avenue.