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Park51 mosque faces eviction after Con Ed rent hike – Metro US

Park51 mosque faces eviction after Con Ed rent hike

This mosque’s holding on by a wing and a prayer.

Park51, the controversial community center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, is having landlord troubles to the tune of nearly $2 million dollars of disputed back rent.

Park51 owns the eastern half of the property at 47-51 Park Place, but Con Ed owns the western half and leases it to Park51.

Owners of the Islamic center want both buildings so they can knock them down and build a much larger community center.

But Con Ed threw a wrench in their plans in August when they upped the rent from $2,750 a month to $47,437 a month, according to the New York Post.

The massive rent hike is retroactive to 2008, when the two parties first negotiated the lease terms. Con Ed and Park51 are at odds over the appraisal of the market value of the property.

When Park51 failed to pay the $1.7 million by Oct. 4, Con?Ed threatened to evict them.

Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the site, argues that Con Ed’s numbers are unfounded — as is its appraisal of the property’s value.

The two parties are set to duke it out in court on Nov. 17.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.