If Wal-Mart officials abandon plans for a store on a landslide-prone plateau above Route 65 in Kilbuck, township officials on Neville Island say they have an industrial site that would be ideal for development.

An independent broker who has worked for Wal-Mart met with the Neville Island Development Association two weeks ago about relocating the Wal-Mart project from the former Dixmont State Hospital site to a property near the Interstate 79 exit at the five-mile-long Ohio River island.

"Wal-Mart's person was looking at alternative sites. We looked at an island site we thought would be suitable," said Bill Easton, director of advance development for the Neville Island Development Association. "The broker we talked to was out of South Carolina and doing alternative work in case they do abandon the Dixmont site."

Wal-Mart maintains it still hopes to locate a new superstore on the 75-acre property in Kilbuck, but a massive landslide Sept. 19 dumped 500,000 cubic yards of dirt, rock and debris off the steep-sided property, closing the heavily traveled road for two weeks and an adjacent railroad line for three days.

The Neville Island property was scouted by Jason Donahue, a real estate broker with ECDC Realty and East Coast Development Co. in Summerville, S.C. It is a little more than a mile from the River Pointe Plaza development where construction has been halted since the landslide. Mr. Donahue could not be reached for comment.

Jim Davis, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the broker isn't a Wal-Mart employee but has done real estate work for Wal-Mart in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Typically, the broker will identify and explore a number of locations before he sits down with a Wal-Mart real estate manager and makes recommendations, he said.

"As far as Neville Island being a possibility, it has not come to the point that we are discussing it at Wal-Mart," Mr. Davis said. "I know nothing about Neville Island."

After receiving press inquiries, Mr. Davis said he spoke to Mr. Donahue about visiting the Neville Island site and was told that township development officials called the broker and asked him to look at the site. Mr. Davis said he didn't ask Mr. Donahue if he plans to recommend the property to Wal-Mart, but added "it's not something we're actively pursuing."

The property visited by the broker and Neville development officials is smaller than the Kilbuck site -- just under 25 acres -- but is next to existing interstate access ramps, already has water and sewer lines, and, unlike the Kilbuck property, is flat and stable.

The property was occupied for decades by the Dravo Light Metals plant, a fabricating industry. More recently, part of the old industrial facility on Grand Avenue has been used by Gottlieb Inc., an aluminum recycling company owned by Robert Gottlieb, who purchased the property a month ago.

Mr. Gottlieb confirmed that the real estate broker visited the property but declined to say if he's had additional contacts with either the broker or Wal-Mart.

Neville commissioners have also recently approved a proposal by Marriott Hotels to build a Fairfield Inn just off the I-79 exit ramp, near Gottlieb's Grand Avenue property.

"Nothing is set in stone but [the Wal-Mart broker] seemed interested," said Aaron Kohan, chairman of the Neville board of commissioners. "We'll see if they follow up."

Mr. Kohan said he's not concerned about how a Wal-Mart would affect the island's traffic flow, which has been considerably diminished over the years by the closings of industrial facilities.

"I'd support it. I don't think it would hurt at all," Mr. Kohan said. "Wal-Mart brings a lot to the table, and right now our residents have no place to shop on the island.

"As for the traffic, there used to be 4,000 to 5,000 cars leaving the island every day between 4 and 5 p.m. So this wouldn't be that much. This wouldn't be a problem."

John Atwood, president of Kilbuck Properties, the developer of the proposed River Pointe Plaza in Kilbuck, could not be reached for comment.