Hisham Elzanaty, a major investor in the Cordoba House mosque and community center at 45 Park Place in Lower Manhattan, was quoted by the Associated Press as stating that "if someone wants to give me 18 or 20 million dollars today, it's all theirs."

"Develop it, raze it, sell it," he reportedly said.

An article in today's New York Post by Tom Topousis said that the Egyptian-born "businessman who says who provided a majority of the financing to gain control over the two buildings where an Islamic community center and mosque would be built, said he already has received offers for three times the $4.8 million price of the site. "

Mr. Elzanaty, the article continued, "said one of the buildings is worth millions if it is redeveloped, and he intends to seize the opportunity. He said he would like to see the other building turned into a mosque, but if his community doesn't come forward with enough cash for him to break even, he will turn it over to someone else. 'I'm a businessman. This was a mere business transaction for me,' said Elzanaty, who owns medical clinics in New York City and invests in real estate on the side."

The article said that "a spokesman for the developer leading the investment team declined to confirm Elzanaty's claim that he has a majority stake in the partnership," adding that "half the site is owned by the real-estate partnership that includes Elzanaty and is managed by Sharif El-Gamal, according to city property records. The other half is owned by Con Ed, but controlled through a long-term lease that another real-estate entity purchased for $700,000 last year. Elzanaty said he put up all of that money and thus controls the lease, which allows its holder to tear down the building and construct something new.

This afternoon, therealdeal.com posted a brief article that maintained that "Donald Trump is looking to buy the site of the proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero in an all-cash deal to close immediately, according to a letter to a major Park51 investor, Hisham Elzanaty, and released by Trump's spokesperson."

"The Donald," the article continued, "proposed to purchase the site at 45 Park Place for what Elzanaty invested in it plus 25 percent interest. He said he wants to buy the property because 'it will end a very serious inflammatory, and highly divisive situation that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse.' Part of the deal would be to build the mosque at least five blocks from the World Trade Center site rather than the two blocks where 45 Park Place is located."

There were other conflicting developments today as The Rev. Terry Jones of the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center, standing with a Florida Muslim leader, said he has decided not to burn copies of the Koran Saturday because he understand that the imam who planned a mosque and Islamic center near ground zero in New York has agreed to move it to another location.

The iman, however, issued a statement that he was "surprised" at the pastor's remarks that the mosque would be moved away from its planned site and that he had no intention of "bartering."

The Rev. Jones soon thereafter said he had been lied to about the mosque's moving leaving questions about whether he will burn copies of the Koran unanswered.