A developer paused construction of a major Harlem project to allow a tent to go up to create a temporary mosque for a Muslim congregation to celebrate Eid al-Fitr after their location was damaged by a fire.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of worshippers on March 20 gathered in a tent to celebrate the end of Ramadan after developer Bruce Teitelbaum and his partners stepped up to help a Muslim congregation unable to worship in their mosque due to a fire.<\/p>\n
The fire occurred last Saturday at the Timbuktu Islamic Center at 350 West 145th St. days before Eid al Fitr, leaving the congregation without a home available for use on that holy day.<\/p>\n
Teitelbaum, an Orthodox Jew, and his partners paused construction of One45 Harlem \u2014\u00a0three buildings slated to house nearly 1,100 residential units, including about 350 affordable units \u2014 at 145th Street and Lenox Avenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is proof that when you do the right thing everyone wins. Today we rejected divisiveness, hate, overheated rhetoric and any attempt to define who we are and what we believe in,\u201d he said on March 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Modibo Soumano, the center\u2019s president, said the tent provided an alternative after a fire rendered the mosque temporarily unusable.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very important holiday,\u201d he said of the importance of praying together on that day. \u201cEverybody was happy. It was a very good thing for us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Those who pray at the mosque saw the temporary structure as a silver lining in a cloud that left the congregation with no space at a crucial time.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey set up a tent so people could come and pray,\u201d said Usman Tengo, who prays regularly at the Timbuktu Islamic Center. \u201cThey had to find a space to put a tent. People came together and prayed as a congregation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Teitelbaum is building a project nine years in the works approved by the City Council last July 14, although they put work on hold briefly.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are glad to lend a helping hand to our Muslim friends who are observing the holy day of Eid,\u201d Teitelbaum said on Instagram. \u201cThere is too much divisiveness, anger and hate nowadays, so any opportunity to do some good and find common ground is a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another post, he talked about how they rapidly made way for a \u201cmakeshift mosque\u201d to provide space and a place for worship.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cPractically overnight, we transformed our demolition site into a place of spirituality and peace,\u201d Teitelbaum said in a post. \u201cWe built a spot away from the hustle and grind of the City that takes its toll, and we created some common ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harlem City Council Member Yusuf Salaam, chair of the City Council\u2019s Committee to Combat Hate, described the temporary mosque as an example of cooperation.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Timbuktu Islamic Center\u2019s mosque was damaged by fire just days before their holiest celebration, Bruce and the One45 team didn\u2019t hesitate,\u201d he told CBS\u2019s Marcia Kramer on the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey decided to stop construction, delay their demolition schedule,\u201d he added of work done to welcome \u201cour Muslim neighbors for Eid Al Fitr.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Salaam saw this as a way to \u201cpromote compassion and tolerance among our communities, because strength in unified righteous collaboration is what defeats hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teitelbaum said the leadership of the center, a few blocks from their site, called after the fire, looking for a location.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey called to tell us what happened,\u201d he said by phone. \u201cThey asked if there was some way we could help them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
He found out about the fire on March 18 and spoke to his partners about doing something. Because demolition had already started, indoor space at the One45 site was impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thoughts then turned to erecting a tent to host the Muslim congregation.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe checked the weather report,\u201d he added of the decision to offer a tent. \u201cWe started calling tent companies.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Teitelbaum delayed work as a tent, paid for some of his group\u2019s investors, went up so the congregation for morning and afternoon services on Friday.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cTo our knowledge,\u201d he said on Instagram, \u201cthis is the first \u2018pop-up\u2019 Mosque of its kind in New York City.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Matt Jozwiak and Rethink Food, a nonprofit that collects and redistributes food from restaurants, provided food such as dates and pastries, while Adama Bah and Africana helped organize.<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and 32 Precinct leadership and officers helped make sure things \u201cwent off without a hitch,\u201d Teitelbaum added.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cA gorgeous mosaic,\u201d Teitelbaum said of cooperation to make this happen in Harlem. \u201cToday was a good day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Soumano said fire damaged the first floor of a building where Teitelbaum and his partners had helped before.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
The mosque, which had leased space at a building being demolished to make way for this project, moved in 2023 with the help of a $500,000 loan from Teitelbaum and his partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found a building about four blocks from the original site and it was for sale,\u201d Teitelbaum said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have enough money to buy the building.\u201d<\/p>\n
The center, under Islamic teachings, couldn\u2019t pay interest on principal, but needed money to own rather than rent.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe agreed to lend them $500,000 to underwrite the purchase which enabled them to buy the building,\u201d Teitelbaum said. \u201cWe\u2019re not charging any interest on the money. That enabled them to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original plan was to use the tent only for the end of Ramadan, but Teitelbaum said it remained up as of Saturday. \u201cWe\u2019re going to leave it up temporarily,\u201d he said, noting it\u2019s expected to come down soon.<\/p>\n
Soumano said they don\u2019t expect to be able to return to their mosque for at least a month, so they\u2019re seeking other options for upcoming weeks.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are working inside. We\u2019re going to see how long it will take to finish,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to find something.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
One45 Harlem, meanwhile, is moving forward with demolition and construction after the last tenant left the buildings.\n<\/p>\n
The National Action Network, facing potential eviction, in January moved from 106-108 West 145th Street to make way for construction.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the process of demolition, pulling permits to start construction which we expect to do at the beginning of the summer,\u201d Teitelbaum said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A developer paused construction of a major Harlem project to allow a tent to go up to create…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,70267,545,469,70268,9,24,63,129,131,130,70269],"class_list":["post-172183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-bruce-teitelbaum","tag-fire","tag-harlem","tag-mosque","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-timbuktu-islamic-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}