Could be a nice condo lobby, too. (Park51)

It's funny how a rent-dispute can change plans.

No sooner was it revealed that Park51, the so-called ground zero mosque and Islamic community center, was facing an almost $2 million rent tab from Con Edison than Sharif El-Gamal, the developer behind the nascent project, revealed that maybe a condo or a hotel might be better than a glorified Y.On Sunday, the Post revealed Con-Ed wants $1.7 million in back rent from Park51, but Mr. El-Gamal says he owes half that. Now, he is telling The Wall Street Journal he would consider other developments on the site to keep his dream of building a downtown prayer space alive. Apparently, this idea has been in the offing for awhile, amidst fundraising difficulties, but it has only now come to light.

"All options are on the table," said developer Sharif El-Gamal in a phone interview. "We're looking at all the different potential uses."

"We could do anything there," he added. "We're sitting on a very valuable piece of real estate."

[...]

"The mosque is something that we're 100% committed to," he said.

"We have 20,000 square feet, at a minimum, that's going to be given to the community," he added. "It depends on how much money we raise."

Among the alternatives being considered for the 120,000-square-foot development are condos, office space or a hotel, anything to keep the project "self-sufficient," as Mr. El-Gamal put it.

He had also kicked around the idea for a Muslim-style Soho house, a private lounge and hostelry for those of Islamic extraction, but apparently that went nowhere. Which is probably a good thing. If a community center drew international animosity, imagine what a private club for Muslims might do.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

The best laid plans... (Getty)

It looks like dreams of a downtown Islamic cultural center could be dashed if Park51 cannot come to an agreement with Con Edison. Dogmatic developer Sharif El-Gamal shares control of the site for the proposed community center with the utility, and Con-Ed now claims Park51 owes $1.7 million in back rent, according to the Post.

Mr. El-Gamal owns the five-story building at 47-49 Park Place, which was almost landmarked last year in an effort to thwart the Islamic-theme project, while Con-Ed controls 51 Park Place, which Mr. El-Gamal rents. He has to keep control of both, otherwise he loses the option to buy the adjacent building, which would cut the site for the cultural center in half.

But the plan hit a major obstacle in August when Con Ed raised the rent from $2,750 a month, a rate set in 1972, to $47,437 a month, retroactive to July 31, 2008.

[...]

After conflicting appraisals of the property by Gamal and Con Ed, it seems both sides came to an agreement this summer.

Court papers show that the appraised price for the Con Ed property is $10.7 million. But Gamal contends Con Ed’s math was faulty when it calculated the rent, saying it owes only $881,519 in back rent and should have to pay $25,875 a month going forward.

The dispute is currently in court, but this is not the first time Mr. El-Gamal has had rent trouble. He had to forfeit his Soho offices over back rent, got into trouble with Citibank, was attacked for seeking 9/11 recovery funds and just general bad press. Which begs the question: Is this bad blood for a good project, bad luck or mere mismanagement?

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Lots of comment.

With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 just a few weeks away, Sharif El-Gamal has gone on a media offensive. Despite the controversy last summer that consumed him and Park51, the so-called ground zero mosque, Mr. El-Gamal has not shied away from the press this August, talking to various outlets about progress on the project, and even launching a fundraiser despite the potential for it to stir criticism yet again. Now he has gone on Inside City Hall to confront Bob Turner, who attacked the mosque in a recent campaign ad.

Mr. El-Gamal said he was disappointed but not surprised with the appearance of the ad, though he also doubts its success in this city. "The right wing has tried this already, and it's failed miserably for them," he said. "New York is better than that. New York is so much better than that. What's really sad and pathetic is that a politician is entering the race with a misleading ad. We are not building a mosque on ground zero. This is a man who wants to become a leader? That's pathetic."

Mr. Turner is running against Assemblyman David Weprin for Anthony Weiner's Brooklyn and Queens congressional seat, which he vacated after Twittergate.

Mr. El-Gamal also shed some light on the difficulty he  has had in getting the project off the ground. "We've been dealing with a PR crisis for the last 12 months," he said. "Our goal was, we needed to get the facts out about what we were doing. We were dealing with a man media campaign against this project that was waging misinformation and essentially deceiving the public about what we were trying to do." There hasn't even been time to meet with any bankers because of it, though The Observer cannot help but wonder if there would be loans or much fundraising anyway, even without the controversy, given the state of the economy and the real estate market in the city and beyond.

Park51 will soon be hosting its first public event, a photography show of children living in New York who come from 170 countries around the world. "It will demystify what we're trying to do and what we're trying to build," Mr. El-Gamal said. "This project is really representative of the ethos of what we are embarking on." The show opens in the fall, and a sample of the photos can be seen here.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Ominous. (YouTube)

With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 just a month away, the firestorm over Park51, the so-called ground zero mosque, has yet to rekindle this year. This despite concerns that it might, even with a 9/10 fundraiser announced and changes in the plans, most of the attention is on the World Trade Center itself and the impressive progress there. There is one place in the city where the "mosque" debate rages once again: the outer-outer boroughs Anthony Weiner once called his political home.

Would-be Congressman Bob Turner, the Republican candidate running against Democratic Assemblyman David Weprin for Mr. Wiener's empty seat, just released his first campaign video. It's not concerned with the economy or the debt ceiling or even the debate over Israel that has been a central issue in the campaign. It is about Park51, and David Weprin's support for it.

As you can see in the video, the imagery is pretty graphic. As our colleagues over at Politicker note, "Anthony Weiner, was conspicuously quiet when the controversy was particularly acute last summer," so it might actually be an effective approach. Such an ad might not work during a typical election, but this is a special, and it is scheduled for September 13, when emotions on the issue will still probably be rather high.

Mr. Weprin, in a statement, believes the ad is wrong, and presumably will backfire: "As we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11, it's shameful that Bob Turner is trying to use the tragedy for his own political gain. I knew people who lost their lives that day and Bob Turner dishonors their memory by politicizing the attacks on New York."

Whether it will set off another firestorm at the site is another question.

Update: The video was just pulled from YouTube. Politicker has a good rundown of what's in it, if you want to catch what you can. Hopefully it will reemerge somewhere soon for the reposting.

Update: The video was moved to Vimeo, but embedding has been disabled.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

The doors should go here and here. (Getty)

On Friday, the developer of the Park51 Islamic community center kicked off a $7 million fundraising drive, but that does not mean the project is getting off the ground any time soon.

Developer Sharif El-Gamal, whom The Observer revealed to the world last summer, sat down with The Times to reveal new details on the planning for the project. Mr. El-Gamal is now taking a more measured approach, having done things "backwards" before. It could be five years before anything is built, he admits, and what that will be is now very much up, or down, in the air.

He said the ultimate form of the center, called Park51, and its building would be determined after consultation with two main audiences, residents of Lower Manhattan and Muslims who live in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Mr. El-Gamal also said he would assess the community response to the events now held at Park51’s makeshift space, varying from art exhibits and yoga and Brazilian martial arts classes to Muslim holiday observances and a discussion for Muslim and non-Muslim children about bullying.

“If the community only wants four or five floors, it’s going to be four or five floors,” Mr. El-Gamal said.

One thing that is not in question, he said, is the center’s location. Legally, he is entitled to operate a religious institution there; the project required no zoning approval, though it was voluntarily presented to Manhattan’s Community Board 1, which approved it in May 2010.

That is news that will make many people happy, and just as many mad. After all, yesterday's story garnered only 89 comments.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

If you build it, they will protest. (Park51)

With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on the horizon, things are chugging along at the World Trade Center site in preparation. On Friday, the mayor announced both President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush will be joining him at the ceremony. Two blocks away, two very short blocks, Sharif El-Gamal is rushing to meet his own September deadline.

Mr. El-Gamal, the developer of the Park51 community center that sparked a furor last year because some Floridians and Fox News commentators don't know downtown geography, is still struggling to raise funds for the project. On Friday night, Park51 launched a fundraiser aimed at raising $7 million over the next month and a half, according to WNYC. The deadline for the funds is Sept. 10, which Mr. El-Gamal called "a motivational deadline," its proximity to the 10th anniversary merely a coincidence.

Last November, when the project sought $5 million in 9/11 grants, it caused quite a stir, so any fundraising attempts could prove fraught. The geometric project is expected to cost $100 million.

WNYC also reports that the project's name has been changed to PrayerSpace, but that appears to simply be the name of the 2,000-seat chapel planned for the 15-story community center, first known as Cordoba House and more widely called the "ground zero mosque," while the overall project is still Park51.

Mr. El-Gamal recently told Huffington Post he hopes new protests will not be sparked this summer by anticipation of 10th anniversary. He gave an impassioned speech to donors Friday, during which he said Park51 is "an opportunity to show the world who we are, and what we believe in, and what our practice is, and what our faith is."

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

What is interesting about the lawsuit, at least to the architecture nerds out there, is that this is the first time anyone has ever sued to have something named a landmark. And that could be for a good reason.

Every so often the reverse will happen, and a developer or landlord will fight the commission because they want the right to demolish or alter their building, and fear, sometimes rightly, that becoming a landmark will hinder those efforts. The courts also played a pivotal role in the establishment of the city's Landmarks Law, as a proposal to demolish Grand Central Terminal was refused by the Supreme Court, a case that gave the law its enduring strength to this day.

Whether or not the building is "a monument to 9/11," as an ACLJ attorney argues to the Times, it is unclear what the outcome of a ruling in his favor would be. In pursuing an Article-78, it is likely the Landmarks Commission would simply be compelled to hold another hearing on 45-47 Park Place, with no guarantee the building would be named a landmark this time, either.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo

That has not stopped a firefighter and a conservative legal group from continuing to fight Park51 with a lawsuit, The Times reports. The real problem, the group charges, is not the developer, Sharif El-Gamal, or the imam, Faisal Abdul Rauf, but the Bloomberg administration.

"There is a disturbing pattern of stonewalling by the city and mayor's office in providing information about what's clearly been a politically tainted process from day one," said Brett Joshpe, a lawyer for the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative group in Washington that is representing Mr. Brown.

He added: "With developers moving forward with their plans and the continued lack of response by the city, we're seeking an injunction from the court to halt the destruction of any of the buildings at issue in the case."

The attorneys are seeking an injunction barring any work at the site, but a Park51 spokesperson said construction is still a while away--with the exception of "a multicultural art exhibit later in the spring."

What? No art within five blocks of Ground Zero? We knew the World Trade Center cultural center was still struggling, but this is a new low.

mchaban@observer.com

First there were all the threats from preachers and right-wing bloggers. Then El-Gamal was pursued for back-rent at his old Soho offices and attacked for an application for 9/11 recovery funds to help build Park51. Now, Citibank is suing El-Gamal for nearly $100,000, according to The Real Deal.

El-Gamal's Soho Properties took out a line of business credit at an unspecified date, and is looking to restructure it, though the bank appears unwilling to play along:

El-Gamal told The Real Deal in a statement through a spokesperson that Soho Properties was attempting to restructure the debt used for general operating expenses, and was not experiencing a cash-flow shortfall. In a common practice in today's environment, borrowers are halting payments to put a loan in default, which allows them to begin negotiating with the bank.

El-Gamal escaped his last suit, over the rent, so maybe he can get out of this suit, too. After all, if you can survive a media firestorm, you can survive anything, right?

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo

The news first broke this morning at The Daily Beast, where writer John Avalon (a former Giuliani speechwriter) reports that two sources have told him Park51 is seeking $5 million in redevelopment grants. Park51 has since confirmed the news with a brief blog post on its site noting that the money will go to social services projects, such as domestic violence prevention and arts programming, and it will also provide hundreds of construction jobs.

Developer Sharif El-Gamal spoke with Crain's about the request, noting that he was simply investigating all possible financial avenues for the project. He also mentioned that a number of banks have expressed interest in financing the project.

Will that still be true now? The news of the bond bid is already sweeping the Twitterverse, the right-leaning pubs and even making its way onto CNN. As has been said time and again, the majority, maybe even vast majority, of Park51's neighbors want the community center built, so spending Lower Manhattan redevelopment funds on the project makes sense. Even Avalon, a local, admits there is good sense behind the project and the application.

But the optics appear so obviously wrong, it is rather amazing El-Gamal and company went here. Perhaps they want to test their mettle, or the mayor's, on the matter, see just how far they can push their plans and still get the project built. Depending on one's perspective--not The Observer's, mind you--this could be construed as a grab by a group connected to 9/11 making a grab for federal taxpayer dollars meant to heal decimated downtown after those very same attacks. Even if this request is totally reasonable and justified, it will only stoke the fires of unreasonable anger that already surround it.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo