Property developer Sharif El-Gamal has secured $219m in sharia-compliant financing for a luxury condominium tower two blocks from the World Trade Center in New York, where he sparked global controversy in 2010 for proposing to build a mosque.
The financing, led by Malaysia’s Maybank and Kuwait’s Warba Bank, is the largest sharia-compliant syndicated construction loan in New York, Mr El-Gamal said, bringing to the forefront what he called “the safest kind of banking in the world”. Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo and MASIC, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s Al Subeaei family, also participated in the loan package.
Mr El-Gamal’s Soho Properties has been seeking financing for the 665-ft skyscraper at a time when US banks have pulled back from luxury property as some in the industry warn of a glut in supply. He says he has begun sales for the 50 units at 45 Park Place priced on average north of $3,000 per square foot, higher than the $1,809 average for Manhattan condominiums, according to data from the Corcoran Group.