Sharif El-Gamal
| Sharif El-Gamal | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 23, 1973 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Real estate developer |
| Known for | Sponsor of Park51 |
Sharif El-Gamal (born December 23, 1973) is an American real estate developer. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Soho Properties, a Manhattan-based real estate company. El-Gamal came to international attention in 2010 for his role in the development of Park51 (originally named Cordoba House and sometimes referred to as the "Ground Zero mosque"), a planned Islamic community center and prayer space to be located about two blocks away from the World Trade Center site.
El-Gamal was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Egyptian Muslim father and a Roman Catholic mother of Polish descent on December 23, 1973.
His father was a managing director at Chemical Bank. He lived in Brooklyn until age 9 when his mother died. He then followed his father to Liberia and Egypt where he attended the Schutz American School. El-Gamal returned to the United States for college, enrolling in various New York universities but eventually dropping out when he decided to stop pursuing formal education.
Lawrence Kopp, his public relations advisor, reported that while El-Gamal was not reared in a religious household, religion helped him struggle through a troubled youth.
El-Gamal first entered real estate in the late 1990s as a residential sales broker but within his first year transitioned to commercial real estate sales. In 2002 he received his real estate broker's license. Before he began buying buildings in 2007 as an owner and developer, El-Gamal worked from 1997 to 2001 as a waiter in two upscale New York City restaurants, Fredericks and Serafina.
For his first real estate purchases in 2007, El-Gamal bought a six apartments building in the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan. Two of the apartments have outstanding building violations and owe the city money. He manages additional properties in Chelsea and Harlem.
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