A synagogue is suing Sharif El-Gamal over lost sacred space at Times Square Margaritaville.
The Garment Center Congregation filed a lawsuit against the Soho Properties owner, claiming El-Gamal had reneged on an obligation to provide the synagogue a space at the 560 Seventh Avenue hotel, Crain’s reported. The nearly century-old congregation claims it has been “rendered homeless” by the developer.
The hotel was reportedly expected to include space for the synagogue — with a kosher kitchen to boot — but walked back its promises before being completed without a synagogue in sight, according to the lawsuit.
Soho Properties acquired the property, the former home of the Parsons School of Design, nine years ago. The 32-story, 170,000-square-foot property, which cost $400 million to develop, opened last June with 234 rooms.
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El-Gamal: After the firestorm
The property was acquired in 1977 by Albert List, who leased it to the New School. List also leased the ground floor to the synagogue, which agreed to a clause that any new development on a demolished space at the site would include space for it, according to the lawsuit.
When El-Gamal purchased the site for $61.5 million, he inherited the synagogue’s agreement, according to the lawsuit. He moved the synagogue to the Chetrit Group’s 1384 Broadway, but Chetrit sued El-Gamal when he racked up rent arrears and failed to vacate at the end of the lease in January 2020.
El-Gamal still had his sights on a synagogue in the hotel, according to the lawsuit, but said last year that it would be 50 percent smaller than anticipated, with only 179 seats. The synagogue said he then tried to buy the congregation out of the agreement altogether and stalled negotiations in an attempt to drive them under, rendering the need for a synagogue moot.
A representative for El-Gamal did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
Last September, Soho Properties landed one of the largest hotel refinancings in the city of 2021, securing $317 million for the Midtown site. Senior lender Bedrock Capital Associates led the financing, while mezzanine funding came from South Korea’s Hana Financial Investment.
— Holden Walter-Warner