Donald Trump offers to buy NYC mosque site

Donald Trump (AP file photo)

Donald Trump has sent an offer to purchase the site of the proposed mosque near ground zero in New York for the price paid plus 25 percent, according to several news outlets.

According to The Associated Press, the offer is falling flat. Wolodymyr Starosolsky, a lawyer for the investor in the real estate partnership that controls the site, said Trump's offer is "just a cheap attempt to get publicity and get in the limelight," according to the AP.

Below is a transcription of the letter from Trump to Hisham Elzanaty, the self-described major principal among the eight investors who bought the site, a copy of which was posted today on Politico.com (PDF).

Sept. 9, 2010


Mr. Hisham Elzanaty
New York Neuro and Rehabilitation Center
930 East Tremont Ave.
Bronx, New York 10460


Dear Mr. Elzanaty,


Please let this letter serve to represent my offer to purchase your site located at 45 Park Place, New York, NY 10007, for what you paid plus 25%. I am making this offer as a resident of New York and citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse.


As part of the offer, it would be agreed that, if you or your representative were to build a mosque, it would be located at least five blocks further from the World Trade Center site. This offer is for all cash with an immediate closing and is subject only to the finalization and signing of mutually acceptable documents.


Thank you for your attention to this matter. Hopefully, something good can happen!


Sincerely,
Donald J. Trump