Grading has begun in Moorpark on the site of a Home Depot store and the Tuscany Square shopping center, which will feature a new grocery store and drugstore.

Construction on both projects is expected to begin early next year, said Dave Bobardt, planning director in Moorpark, with completion by mid-2008.

"With all things going as expected, we could see both of these developments opening by summer 2008," Bobardt said.

The 141,000-square-foot Home Depot is being built on a 33-acre site on Patriot Drive, behind the Moorpark Marketplace on Los Angeles Avenue. The store will occupy 12.9 acres, with the rest of the area being developed into a business park.

Howard Hardin, consultant to Home Depot, said the store in Moorpark will feature more home decorating and showroom displays than other Home Depot stores, which are more warehouse-type facilities.

The 74,402-square-foot Tuscany Square shopping center, which was approved by the City Council in August 2005, is being built on about seven acres on the southwest corner of Los Angeles and Moorpark avenues. Among the tenants at the shopping center will be a Walgreen's drugstore and a Fresh & Easy Supermarket, a chain grocery store from United Kingdom-based Tesco retailer.

The center will have a medical and professional office building and a food court area, including a sushi and a pizza restaurant.

Larry Greene, developer of Tuscany Square, said the center will be pedestrian-friendly and feature outdoor entertainment.

Moorpark resident Kathy Wilcox said she is looking forward to shopping at the Fresh & Easy Supermarket, but wondered why the city needs an additional drugstore.

"I think there are way too many drugstores already in the city," said Wilcox. "I'm interested in seeing what the Fresh & Easy store will be like since I heard it has a different marketing strategy than other stores."

In August 2006, the Moorpark City Council narrowly approved the development of Home Depot. Both council members and residents were concerned about day laborers congregating at the site, traffic, truck delivery and potential effects on nearby residential areas.

Proponents of the store, including council member Janice Parvin, said it will bring sales tax revenue and employment to the area. The store is expected to employ 225 full- and part-time employees.

Some residents said they look forward to shopping at Home Depot in Moorpark.

"From what I've seen in the plans, it looks like it's going to be a really nice place. If residents don't have to leave this town, it's going to be better," said Robert Haff, a Moorpark resident.

But Kathryn Taylor said she was concerned that not enough shoppers will go to the Home Depot in Moorpark, especially with two other home improvement and construction stores in the city and the Simi Valley Home Depot within five miles of the Moorpark site.

Before the City Council approved the store, Home Depot officials said they had done trade analysis for the area and believed the Moorpark store would be economically viable.