Not So Fast…Ground Zero Mosque Developers Only Own Half Of The Site

Pic of Sharif El Gamal, head of Soho Properties  via Islamization Watch

The New York Post has the exclusive:

The developers of the controversial mosque proposed near Ground Zero own only half the site where they want to construct the $100 million building, The Post has learned.

One of the two buildings on Park Place is owned by Con Edison, even though Soho Properties told officials and the public that it owns the entire parcel. And any potential sale by Con Ed faces a review by the state Public Service Commission.

“We never heard anything about Con Ed whatsoever,” said a stunned Julie Menin, the chairwoman of Community Board 1, which passed a May resolution supporting the mosque.

Daisy Khan, one of the mosque’s organizers, told The Post last week that both buildings on Park Place are needed to house the worship and cultural center. But she claimed ignorance about the Con Ed ownership of 49-51 Park Place and referred questions to Soho Properties, which bought the building at 45-47 Park Place in 2009.

Rep. Peter King, who opposes the mosque, said the developers seemed to be “operating under false pretenses.”

“I wonder what else they are hiding,” said King (R-LI). “If we can’t have the full truth on this, what can we believe?”

Sharif El-Gamal, the head of Soho Properties, first came forward in 2006 seeking to buy the empty building at 45-47 Park Place, said Melvin Pomerantz, whose family owned the property.

It should be noted that Sharif El Gamal, the guy who paid 4.8 million for 45-47,  was a waiter in 2002. Yep. Ace has video of that revelation being made on  Fox’s Geraldo, this weekend.

More on El Gamal’s background, here. According to private detective, Bill Warner,  he and his brother grew up and went to school  in Liberia, a hot bed for Al-Qaeda activity since at least 1998.

CNN’s Deb Ferrick conducted a fairly tough interview with El Gamal a few weeks ago, pressing him hard on the question of, why there?! El-Gamal told her that it was just a coincidence that the site available to build the mosque, was so close to ground zero.

More from the Post:

Con Ed said El-Gamal told the utility in February that he wanted to exercise the purchase option in his $33,000- a-year lease for the former substation.

The utility is now doing an appraisal to determine the property value, and it would be up to El-Gamal to decide whether to accept the price, the utility said. The price is estimated at $10 million to $20 million.

“We are following our legal obligations under the lease. We will not allow other considerations to enter into this transaction,” Con Ed said.

The sale proposal will go to the Public Service Commission, where it could possibly face a vote by a five-member board controlled by Gov. Paterson.

El-Gamal told The Post his long-term lease was equivalent to ownership and that it even allowed him to demolish the building. Still, he said, he was determined to buy the property. “The cost is not an issue,” he said.

The cost is not an issue? Really??? Why not? Who’s paying for it?

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A better question maybe: Who’s going to step up and out-bid El-Gamel for that Con Ed property?

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H/T: Atlas Shrugs: Weird Twist in Ground Zero Mosque: More Dishonesty Developer Owns Only Part of the Property:)

See Also:

Atlas Shrugs: Dishonest Imam Rauf in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar for Ground Zero Mosque Money

And

The Ottawa Citizen: Mischief in Manhattan – We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation

By Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah, Citizen Special

New York currently boasts at least 30 mosques so it’s not as if there is pressing need to find space for worshippers. The fact we Muslims know the idea behind the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith and in Islamic parlance, such an act is referred to as “Fitna,” meaning “mischief-making” that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.

I wonder if the tide is beginning to turn on the Ground Zero mosque?

RELATED:

The American Thinker: Newsweek columnist says US funding mosque construction

HUH????

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MORE:

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Weasel Zippers: New York: GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Lazio Says if Elected He Will Use Revelation Con Ed Owns Half Ground Zero Mosque Building to Pull Plug on Project…