Trump Offers To Buy 45 Park Place - Site Of Mosque Contraversy

Read the letter released by Donald Trump's office.

(CBS/ AP) Donald Trump is offering to buy out one of the major investors in the real estate partnership that controls the site near ground zero where a Muslim group wants to build a 13-story Islamic center.

In a letter released Thursday by Trump's publicist, the real estate investor tells Hisham Elzanaty he would buy his stake in the lower Manhattan building for 25 percent more than whatever he paid.


Trump says he's making the offer not because he thinks the location is spectacular but because it would end "a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation."

The letter from Trump, addressed to Hisham Elzanaty, reads in part:

"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."

Fact Check: The "Ground Zero Mosque" Debate

It's unclear whether Elzanaty has total control over the property, which is owned by an eight-member investment group managed by Soho Properties.

Many Republicans and some Democrats say the proposed $100 million Islamic cultural center and mosque should be built elsewhere where there is no possible association with New York's ground zero. Far more than a local zoning issue, the matter has seized congressional campaigns, put President Barack Obama and his party on the spot - he says Muslims have the right to build the mosque - divided families of the Sept. 11, 2001, victims, caught the attention of Muslims abroad and threatened to blur distinctions between mainstream Islam in the U.S. and its radical elements.