What would be the best way to use a 3.5 million inheritance to generate passive income...

I'd take stocks that pay dividends over real estate/rental properties, but that's just me.

Buy a $1million house.
Sell 200,000 tickets at $10 each.
Collect that $2million.
Take the money and run.

Pay for a real advisor company like Ritholtz Wealth Management.

Don't Fuck around w/ that kind of money as an ameteur.

You'd have to be a damned fool to see this pitch as anything but a red flag to stay the fuck away. Not sure if serious but if it is, within the body of the text, it all says "stay the fuck away from me, I'll fuck your life up real good".

Commercial property?

I know a guy who made his wealth via real estate rentals...he agrees with you.

I have some rentals and some stocks. The rentals are not very liquid and have a 6% friction if you need to sell. AT&T stock is paying over 6% dividend right now. I don't think they are going away, even with the lockdown. Everybody pays their phone bill when they are quarantined! Hold it for over a year and you get the lower tax rate. Very safe.

Store Capital Corp: STOR

Commercial REIT reports earnings tomorrow.
Stock has taken a major hit w/ covid.

Warren Buffett has a huge stake in it.
If you can wait two years- you will make a lot of money.

If you take a position in it- do it over about 4 trades. IOW, 20%, 30%, 20%, 15%, 15%

Get your feet wet. Invest total of $40k over 4 trades. You won't be sorry.

DO NOT TRUST WEALTH MANAGEMENT COMPANIES.

Invest in property, invest in government bonds until you can learn about the property market.

Unless you're going to get someone to manage it for you, property is more hassle than it's worth.
It's by far the best investment you can make financially but be prepared for them to call you on a Friday night and tell you their plumbing is backed up.