It looks like the developers of the proposed $100 million Islamic center to be built near the World Trade Center site has more than just criticisms to worry about. City records show that they would also have to financial hurdles to contend with.
The cultural center –which will include a health club and mosque – has faced oppositions from people who think it’s not a sensitive move to build an Islamic center near the 9-11 site. Now, though, its developers are also facing a quarter of a million dollars payables in real estate taxes and late fees. A total of interest-rich $236,327 tax bill is due to be paid on October 1 by 45 Park Place Partners LLC, which owns the building.
Manhattan real estate firm Soho Properties issued a statement that, despite failing to pay first two quarterly property tax payments for 2010, it still has the financial means to complete the project. The missed payments, says its spokesman, does not indicate financial ill healt.
Spokesman adds that the reason the firm has been unable to meet payments is that there’s still a dispute over the assessed value of the building. In cases like these, it is normal for building owners to suspend payments temporarily.
Associated Press reviewed the city’s tax and property databases. It found out that Soho Properties and its managing partner Sharif El-Gamal have paid taxes on time. There are a few instances, though, when the partnership gave slightly less than what is owed.
El-Gamal, a Brooklyn-born Manhattan real estate investor, leads the investment group that shelled out $4.5 million for the site. He refuses to divulge any other information regarding the other investors, save for the fact that they’re a good mixture of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
Park 51, a non-profit group formed by El-Gamal to run the center after its completion, has an unclear role as to how it is going to help out in the financial hurdles. Even the only other public figure attached to the project, Manhattan Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, has not committed yet to an ultimate role for the center.
Adelaide Polsinelli, a real estate broker with Marcus & Millichap and an acquaintance to El-Gamal, said the financial problems are not enough to put a stop to the project. Being professionals in the real estate market, both Soho Properties and El-Gamal are not likely to pull out of the Islamic center. She adds that the partnership will, most likely, attract more investors because of all the media hype.