The West Salem Plaza, that old strip mall on a predominant spot on Main Street, was knocked down last year and slated to be replaced with a big-box retailer.

But the question remains: which one?

A group of developers bought the property in August. No announcement was made. Nine months later, the site has been reduced to a heap of earth. Still no official word -- because the new tenant is waiting until the construction site is cleared of lingering contamination and gumbo soil, said Richard Wilkinson, a partner with the development group BET Wilkinson.

Of course, the name has been whispered on Main Street.

"Lowe's," said Mike Pratt, as he poked around the coolant system of a Saturn last week at his SpeeDee Oil Change & Tune-Up, which sits across Main Street from the construction site.

"As the rumor mill goes, I'm assuming it will be a Lowe's," agreed Ron Black, who was behind the counter of his Crossroads Hobbies & Crafts store nearby.

Folks have said as much for years. A source close to the deal for the land, speaking on condition of anonymity, said so, too. Even a recent report from the Salem department of planning and development mentioned "the home improvement center planned at the former West Salem Plaza."

In Salem, a Lowe's-that-isn't seems to be the secret that everyone knows.

Rumor of a home improvement retailer coming to the plaza first appeared in this newspaper three years ago. In May 2006, the Roanoke property group that owned the Salem plaza at the time said they had received nibbles from Lowe's and Home Depot.

The L-word was repeated when Wilkinson appeared in town last summer, with a resume that included jobs with Target, Home Depot and Lowe's. An announcement seemed a few days away, then months. Now perhaps at the end of this month, or the next.

Last week, Wilkinson said the retailer was delaying its big reveal until extensive environmental and soil work was finished and certified on a site where a large tanning operation, the Leas & McVitty Tannery, processed leather from the late 1800s to 1973.

The tannery left behind a few surprises. More than 700 underground tanning tanks, some as large as a compact car, were uncovered during the demolition. The state Department of Environmental Quality classified the site as a "brownfield" -- polluted from a previous industry. The contaminated soil had to be trucked off to a repository.

That was just one wrinkle in redeveloping the property, Wilkinson said. The ground was soft, raising issues about supporting a building load. New soil had to be trucked in. Wet weather also slowed the project.

"It was worse than we thought, but it was not anything we weren't prepared to deal with," the Florida developer said. "Money will cure anything."

Site preparation will cost developers more than $5 million, about $1 million more than they had budgeted, Wilkinson estimated. The city of Salem has chipped in $3 million toward the work, in the form of deferred tax incentives.

Wilkinson said the big-box store could open in the first months of 2010, keeping with the timeline he announced last summer.

He said the site was about 80 percent of the way toward being handed off to a building contractor. The building could be finished by December, leaving two months for the retailer to move in and stock up.

A spokeswoman for Lowe's did not respond to questions about the store's plans in Salem.

Back at the Salem hobby shop, at least one Main Street business owner doubted the rumor mill.

"Everybody says Lowe's," said Josh May, who wandered into the back of the Crossroads last week.

But May, the co-owner of Countryside Classics on Main Street, had identified what he said was an unusual feature of the work being done at the construction site.

"It's got a funky parking lot," he said, having investigated some of the new work. Where had he seen that kind of funky parking lot before?

"Home Depot."