Leona Helmsley's Estate Price Reduction

NewsCore - The Queen of Mean's castle is about to be sold at a bargain-basement price, the New York Post reported Monday.

After languishing on the market for three years, the late Leona Helmsley's lavish Greenwich, Conn., estate -- known grandly as Dunnellen Hall -- is about to be sold for less than half of the original $125 million asking price, sources told the Post.

"The contract is currently under negotiation," one source said.

Nothing has been signed, but the mystery buyer haggled the price down to $55 million or less.

Leona Helmsley was a billionaire New York City hotel operator who had a reputation for tyrannical behavior, which earned her the "Queen of Mean" tag.

She died in 2007 at age 87 leaving more than $11 million to her Maltese dog "Trouble," but a judge reduced that to a mere $2 million.

Proceeds from the sale of the estate will go to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, which supports health care and medical research, among other things.

The 26-room mansion had been something of a fixer-upper.

Even before Helmsley's death, it had been neglected, a local broker said. The trustees had to invest in substantial repairs, including fixing a leaky roof, before buyers would even consider it, the source said.

Over the past three years, various brokers tried with no luck to sell the manse -- cutting the price from $125 million to $95 million to $75 million to $60 million.

Sitting on 40 acres of land, the manor, built in 1918, commands stunning views of Long Island Sound.

It boasts a 52-foot indoor pool, a 72-foot outdoor pool, a 70-foot reflecting pool with a fountain, a koi pool with a waterfall, a wine cellar, a theater, tennis courts and two guest cottages.