HomePort Geraldton: Completed earthworks mark milestone for development with Spudshed expected in early 2025

The layers of the Woorree homemaker centre project are peeling away, with the developer adamant that major tenant Spudshed is on track to be open by early 2025. The HomePort Geraldton development has ticked off another milestone with local contractor Red Dust Holdings completing earthworks this month. The commercial centre, located on Horwood Road, will be home to Tony Galati’s popular WA supermarket chain Spudshed, along with several other retailers. Subdivision work will start as soon as contractors return to site, as well as the construction of stormwater drainage, retaining walls, roads and carparks. Development manager Mike Fitzgerald said after tireless work to bring the site down to design level, the homemaker centre was progressing, with Spudshed set to open in the early part of 2025. “Obviously there’s lead times for everything and so sometimes there is a little bit of stop, start. But now that the earthworks are done, the work is, relatively speaking, a lot easier,” he said. “We’ve got a design that’s been approved by council, and so all of those things will now start falling into place as soon as the guys get back to site.” Mr Fitzgerald said the main structure, or shell, was engineered offsite and once transported to Geraldton would be built in a matter of weeks. “It’s quite a complex project to kick off a supermarket,” Mr Fitzgerald said. “Even once the shell is up and running, the Spudshed team will need eight to 10 weeks to complete their fit-out.” He thanked Red Dust Holdings for getting stuck into the work and looked forward to seeing more results after the next phase. “We’re very happy to have the support of local contractors. The last thing on our mind was to bring people up from Perth. We’d much rather keep it local, and those guys have been a stand-out for us,” he said. It is yet to be revealed what other retailers will operate alongside Spudshed. Expressions of interest are still being sought.