The moneyman behind the Ground Zero mosque has snapped up another piece of prime real estate, forking over $8 million to buy a five-story building at 43 Park Place – giving him control of three adjacent buildings just two blocks from the site of the 9/11 terror attacks.
The sale went through last December, according to property records, when a company called 43 Park Place Partners Corp. put $1 million down and got a $7 million mortgage to buy the prime property from the Schlussel family of Queens.
The new property houses the Dakota Roadhouse – where a sign behind the bar proclaims “No sissies” – and several other businesses.
The other two buildings – 45-47 Park Place, which he and his partners bought in 2009 for $5 million, and 51 Park Place, which he leases from ConEd –
house Park51, which opened in September 2011 as an Islamic cultural center.
But as The Post reported in December, it was mostly vacant and offered few programs and was serving only as a mosque.
Dozens of worshipers gather at the site every Friday for prayer services — but that’s the only activity in the building aside from a class in capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines dance and music.
The teacher of the twice-weekly class told The Post in December she has just five students.
Neither El-Gamal nor a rep for the Schlussel family could be immediately reached.
The project has been a magnet for controversy since it was first proposed, with critics saying a mosque should not be located so close to the site of the 9/11 attacks by Islamic militants.
El-Gamal’s supporters say its presence would foster greater tolerance and mutual understanding.
The developer has also been in a court battle with ConEd, which tried to evict him from the property at 51 Park Place for failure to pay rent. The case is pending.