The developer behind the controversial “Ground Zero mosque” is charging rent to his own strapped nonprofit — the very group behind the ambitious project.
Park51, the Islamic community center and prayer space near Ground Zero championed by Sharif El-Gamal, paid $30,000 in rent in 2012, according to the organization’s latest tax filings, obtained by The Post.
The organization ended the year with a deficit of $34,120.
The group founded by El-Gamal and others took in $107,900, $7,450 of that coming from community programs such as Arabic lessons and Afro-Brazilian martial arts classes, and the rest from donations.
Park51 spent $142,020 in 2012, including $72,121 on salaries. It spent only $6,468 on program expenses.
Hank Sheinkopf, a lobbyist and Democratic strategist who is now acting as a spokesman for Park51, defended the rent charge.
“The nominal fee paid by Park51 does not begin to cover the upkeep and associated costs of owning the building, which are over $1 million a year, let alone the market value,” Sheinkopf said.
One of El-Gamal’s real-estate companies owns 45-47 Park Place and another company leases the adjoining 51 Park Place from Con Edison. Both buildings had been joined years ago and were a Burlington Coat Factory store before being damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
An El-Gamal company snatched up 43 Park Place in December 2012 for $8 million.
El-Gamal’s grand plans for a $100 million community center and mosque so close to Ground Zero generated worldwide controversy when he unveiled them four years ago. Protesters objected to a mosque near the site of the World Center attacks by Islamic extremists.
Plans called for a multistory building with a fitness center, swimming pool, 500-seat auditorium, art studios, a restaurant and prayer space.
But El-Gamal has since been locked in a legal battle with Con Ed over
back rent and the value of the utility-owned building. He must buy the Con Ed building for the project to go forward.