Dirt movers are working non-stop at the site for The Trails at Silverdale shopping center.

Since last month’s groundbreaking for the shopping center, located at Kitsap Mall Boulevard and Greaves Way, earth-moving equipment has been working overtime. And that’s exactly what’s planned, according to Alec Paddock, spokesman for CenterCal Properties, the California-based firm that’s constructing the center.

“We’re working seven days a week, trying to beat the rain,” Paddock said.

Knowing that the northwest’s rainy season begins generally in October, the company is working to get to a good point prior to the wet season.

“We know that there’s about a three to four month window (from when they began work this past summer),” he said. “We’re trying to get a lot done. We need to get the earth work completed, the utilities in, cap off the project and lay down a cement treatment so that we don’t have a muddy mess and lose ground during the winter.

“It’s just a race to get that done,” he said.

The Trails at Silverdale, a 220,000 square-foot retail development officially broke ground Aug. 28.  Kitsap County commissioners, local business officials and CenterCal executives were on hand for that.

But just as soon as the tables and tent for the event were removed, the ground underneath them was being moved.

To date, a retaining wall has been placed and the surface of where the center shops are to be has been leveled. Robinson Construction of Bellevue is under contract with CenterCal to build The Trails at Silverdale. The center is planned to open in the fall of 2015.

Paddock said the company is about a week to two weeks from announcing the anchor tenants for the center.

“We’re really close,” he said. “We have a couple of leases that are just about there, but we have to wait until the deals are signed.”

At the ground-breaking, CenterCal President Jean Paul Wardy said the center “is 70 to 80 percent committed.” Paddock said the exact number of tenants will depend on how much square footage each specific tenant wants.

“But it will be in the range of about 25 tenants,” he added.

The property in total is 30 acres, but only about 18 acres is planned to be developed. County Commissioner Linda Streissguth said that the new center will bring needed jobs to the area and will result in upward of $300,000 in sales tax revenue for the county annually.

CenterCal officials have said the center will include a movie theater, restaurants, grocery store, fitness stores and retail outlets.

Plans are not to take tenants from existing places, but to add opportunities that are not now available in Kitsap County, the company CEO said.

“We’re talking about this place being a gathering place where people can come and just enjoy themselves,” said Fred Bruning, CEO at CenterCal. “It will include things like a (movie) theater, restaurants, retail and a grocery store in a setting that matches the environment that it is in.”

A park-like atmosphere, with a water fountain, outdoor fire pits and places to just sit and enjoy nature are planned, Bruning said.

In fact, the center was named for the Clear Creek Trail which is nearby.

“We threw out a lot of names, but The Trails at Silverdale just kind of stuck,” he said. “It seemed to resonate with us and I just liked it.”

Site plans have been shared with local community groups, including the Central Kitsap Community Council, according to Paddock.