The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission handed the controversial Cordoba House project a substantial victory Tuesday by deciding not to grant landmark status to the building that stands on the site of the planned Islamic cultural center near Manhattan’s Ground Zero, effectively giving developers the go-ahead to make that bit of real estate their own.

“The Two-Way” on NPR.org:

After the board’s unanimous vote, its chairman, Robert B. Tierney, said the structure, which previously home to a Burlington Coat Factory, “does not rise to the level of an individual landmark.”

Having surmounted the hurdle, a developer is now free to change or demolish the 152-year-old structure, clearing the way for the construction of a controversial $100 million, 13-story Islamic community center, which would include a mosque.

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