Since they unveiled the plan last week, Jerome C. Finefrock and James A. Nettleton Jr. have said repeatedly they are still looking at the Burle Industries property on New Holland Pike, the Lancaster Stockyards or the former Kemps Foods site near Greenfield Road.

The Manheim Township developer who is handling the real-estate acquisition for Finefrock and Nettleton, Blackford Development, has signed a letter of intent to purchase the Bulova Technologies building at North Queen and East Orange streets.

But the two attorneys say their unnamed investors prefer a site that is larger and more accessible to travelers.

“I favor downtown,” Finefrock said today, “because I want to see downtown vibrant again. It’s easier for the people who we want to hire to get to to their jobs. It’s almost within walking distance.

“The investors clearly would favor a site outside of town. They favor a site which allows for greater development,” Finefrock said.

Finefrock added that the decision on where to install as many as 5,000 slot machines is largely up to Lancaster City Council. The attorneys would need special approval from the three-member zoning hearing board to operate the casino in the Bulova building, but nothing from city council.

However, if they try to open the casino on any of the other three properties on the outskirts of town, they would need city council’s approval from a zoning change.

“The critical point is, it’s up to city council,” Finefrock said. “Ideally, we go in there and say, ‘Here’s the site downtown, and here’s the other possibility. Which do you want?’

“If you say no to the zoning change, it’s going to be downtown,” Finefrock said.

He declined to say which of the three properties outside of downtown he and Nettleton favor.

However, the Lancaster Stockyards board of directors is pursuing talks with another developer, from Bethlehem, about plans to build stores and housing in a venture costing $30 million to $40 million.

Finefrock’s and Nettleton’s application for a gaming license is due Dec. 28, and part of the process mandates an impact study of any proposed gambling center be given to the hosting municipality.

That document mentions that the two attorneys are considering other sites for the casino. It says that if developers fail to obtain the alternative site, they will stay at Bulova and help the Lancaster Parking Authority finance a new 2,000-space parking garage downtown.

Finefrock said the developers would finance a tax-exempt bond for a potential garage.

The other details of Finefrock and Nettleton’s study include:

· A call for the Stoner Carousel to be given a home in Lancaster Square and the establishment of a family-friendly “Urban Entertainment Center” on the first floor of the Bulova building. The slot machines would operate on the upper floors of the building.

· Requesting the city add five police officers at a salary of $75,000 for each officer. Finefrock said the officers could be paid from the $10 million in slots revenue the state would give the city for hosting the parlor.

· The slots parlor would attract as many as 5.6 million visitors yearly once it is fully operational with at least 3,000 slot machines. At least half of those visitors, developers said, would be people who have never before stopped in Lancaster city. The study says the visitors would spend up to $300 million annually downtown.

· The proposed slot parlor would boost downtown traffic by 14.8 percent. The attorneys suggest several traffic changes to improve flow, such as building left-turn-only lanes at the intersections of Franklin and Orange streets and Duke and Walnut streets.