Hotel property, a highly-placed Government source said yesterday.

No details were available on the proposal, which was received just 10 days ago, and Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge declined comment.

The 32-year-old hotel, owned by the British hotel chain TrustHouse Forte, was completed in 1960 and closed in October, 1988 for an $8 million renovation.

But the 233-room hotel never reopened. The 120 employees lost their jobs and the five acre property was put up for sale -- reportedly for between $20 million and $22 million.

The Bermudiana has remained fully furnished but totally unoccupied ever since.

Another major hotel, the 688-bed Club Med in St. George's shut down, and no buyer has been found for that either. But the Bermudiana, centrally located on the edge of Hamilton, has proved a fading and conspicuous monument to an ailing hotel industry.

Its lawns are kept trim, but paint is peeling, plaster is crumbling in some places, small plants are sprouting out of some corners of the roof, and rust stains are running down the walls from the air conditioners. Parts of the entrance roof are missing.

A few impolite words of graffiti have been spray-painted on the walls.

Yesterday, two teenagers were seen climbing in a kitchen window, apparently interested in exploring the vast deserted building rather than stealing. One of them said it seemed people had been sleeping in one of the basement rooms.

A burglar alarm was set off shortly afterward, and brought a quick response from a private security company.

Boston developer Mr. Harold Savisky, who began negotiating with TrustHouse Forte in 1990 to buy the property, could not be reached yesterday. But one of his Boston associates said he understood the $60 million project is "on hold, but still very much alive''.

Mr. Stavisky had planned to convert the hotel into condominiums and executive business suites. The main building, generally regarded as difficult to salvage, would have been torn down to its steel frames.

UNWELCOME GUESTS -- Two prowlers climbed into the Bermudiana Hotel yesterday.

The hotel's owners have been less successful in attracting buyers.