Saudi King May Move Ground Zero Mosque

(NewsCore) - A Manhattan, N.Y., lawyer with ties to the Saudi royal family claimed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia may try and move the controversial Ground Zero mosque to New York's West Village, the New York Post reported Sunday.

Attorney Dudley Gaffin said the Saudi king might want to buy shuttered St. Vincent's Medical Center and transfer the mosque to a new Islamic cultural center he would build on a plot at that site, sources who heard Gaffin's pitch said.

The king, worth more than $20 billion, would also save the hospital, reopening most of the units that closed when St. Vincent's filed for bankruptcy on April 14, the sources said.

They said Gaffin was floating the idea to gauge what the reaction might be -- and to ready a bid to rival the Rudin Organization, which was trying to snap up St. Vincent's in bankruptcy court with an eye on tearing down six hospital buildings for luxury housing.

"He's asking what it would take to put in a bid," said one community leader who did not want to be identified. "He says the king wants to do this as a PR move -- to save the hospital and move the mosque away from the World Trade Center site," the source added. "He wants to show that Muslims can do good works."

Sources said Gaffin claimed to have broached the topic with New York Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, but reps for both denied it.

Read more: New York Post