New London – One of the finalists in last year’s bidding to become the preferred developer for the Lighthouse Inn has made an unsolicited $250,000 offer to the city for the property.

Grand Slam Holdings LLC, through its attorney Gordon Videll, sent an email with the offer to city officials Friday. It’s a significant drop from an informal and conditional $1 million offer that Grand Slam principal Anthony Morascini emailed to the Office of Development and Planning on June 9.

City attorney Jeffrey Londregan is reviewing the newer offer while the city council awaits the results of an appraisal.

The likely next step appears to be an auction, though the city council will also weigh other options such as sending out another request for proposals or listing the property for sale, according to councilor Don Venditto, the chairman of the Economic Development Committee.

The council’s chosen preferred developer, Michael Dattilo, abandoned his development plans earlier this month after efforts to negotiate for rights to the nearby Guthrie Beach failed.

Grand Slam was one of three finalists in the running for development of the property, which sits on 4.2 acres at 6 Guthrie Place. The city took title to the property in 2013 after a tax sale failed to elicit a single bid. Fondly remembered by locals for its banquets, weddings and family gatherings, the property’s mansion was built in 1902 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been empty since 2008.

It has fallen in disrepair and the city recently was forced to make roof repairs to stops leaks and recently enlisted contractors for lawn care.

Videll on Monday said the $1 million offer came with a host of attached conditions and the newest offer “is more mutually beneficial.” He said Grand Slam is asking for a 45-day purchase and sales agreement, up to three years of tax abatements during construction and a waiver of outstanding water charges. He said Grand Slam would make maintenance of the landscaping an immediate priority.

Videll said he expects the city will ask for things like a performance bond and perhaps some restrictions on future use for the inn, “which we’re prepared to accommodate.”

Exactly what Grand Slam intends for the property remains a little unclear. Their original pitch to the city was to pay $400,000 for the property and spend several million dollars to renovate and reopen the inn.

“We have many, many concepts but the main one is to preserve the inn,” Morascini said Monday.

 Morascini, a self-described artist and entrepreneur, said among his ideas for the property and the inn, was "to fill it up with art work from myself and others and eventually become a museum.” He did not rule it out as a venue for special events.

Resident James Martinsson expressed his frustration with the lack attention to the property at a City Council meeting Monday and threatened to use eminent domain, as a private citizen, and take the property.

“I’ve had it. I’m disgusted with the procrastination on the Lighthouse Inn,” Martinsson said. “I’m going to do to New London what New London did to the Fort Trumbull area. I‘m going to take the lighthouse in from underneath you. This beautiful place is crumbling day by day.”

Certified Public Accountant Roger Bennett, who under the name Lighthouse investors LLC was one of the three finalists for preferred developer status, said Monday he was still interested in the property.

He said Grand Slam at one point had reached out to him for a possible joint venture.

"If Grand Slam is interested in doing something with us, we’d be interested,” Bennett said.

g.smith@theday.com