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Mosque Developer Faces Eviction at SoHo Offices, Report Says

By DNAinfo Staff on September 15, 2010 9:08am  | Updated on September 15, 2010 8:53am

Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the Islamic center near Ground Zero, is being evicted by the landlords at his SoHo offices, the Daily News reported.
Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the Islamic center near Ground Zero, is being evicted by the landlords at his SoHo offices, the Daily News reported.
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AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, Pool

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Park51 developer, Sharif El-Gamal, is being threatened with eviction by the landlords at his SoHo offices, who claim he owes $39,000 in back rent, according to the Daily News.

News of the eviction, which reportedly began last month, came just two days after Gamal's associate in the proposed Islamic center and mosque at Gound Zero, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, was sued by Union City, New Jersey for allegedly ignoring repeated complaints by the city and tenants of apartment buildings that he owns there.

Royal Crospin Corp., the company that has filed eviction proceedings against Gamal's Soho Properties, has sued them before – last year for $89,000 that was allegedly owed in back rent, the News reported. Gamal settled that suit for $56,000, according to the paper.

Gamal has also been accused of owing more than $200,000 in back taxes connected to the purchase of the Park Place address and has had seven, mostly minor, run-ins with the law.