Woolworths has signed up as the anchor tenant at Australand’s $23 million The Ponds shopping centre near Blacktown in Sydney’s West.

The supermarket chain is the first major tenant confirmed for the new centre, and has taken a 20 year lease across a 4000sqm site, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The property group lodged plans for the centre in Sydney’s west with the Blacktown Council in May, with construction set to start later this year. The Ponds shopping centre, expected to be finished by late 2015, will be around 7000sqm with 25 retail stores.

In April Woolworths said it had opened four supermarkets in the first three months of 2012, and planned to open another 13 in the final quarter of the year, taking its total of stores numbers to around 900.