NEWPORT — The Fort Adams Trust will receive $125,000 from a federal Preserve America grant to help pay for a study of the condition of the 200-year-old structure.

The study, said Eric Hertfelder, executive director of the trust, could help the group “find a compatible use that will generate the investment and public enthusiasm needed to halt its continuing deterioration.”

Last spring a developer proposed a hotel for an unused and decrepit section of the fort. At the time, Hertfelder said the trust has the resources only to focus on preserving about 20 percent of the fort. “Even as we speak, it’s falling down,” he said.

City Councilwoman Kathryn E. Leonard led the opposition to the hotel plan, saying it was wrong to have a private developer use public land to make money.

According to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, the Preserve America grant will be matched by $125,000 raised by the trust.

The money will pay for a study of the state-owned fort by a structural engineer, a landscape architect and a museum and marketing consultant.

They will produce an assessment of what has to be done to stabilize the fort, raise money for its preservation and develop long-term strategies for its survival.