I could have sworn that there were reports this morning that the CI group was actually contemplating backing out of its plan to build at 45-51 Park Place. In fact, SoHo Properties is contemplating alternatives.

Albany - Sponsors of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not slamming the door on Gov. Paterson’s idea to build the center someplace else.

“We are open to a conversation to find out more on what the governor has in mind,” the center, Park51, said in a Twitter post yesterday.

While mosque opponents charge the chosen site is insensitive to 9/11 victims, Paterson doesn’t oppose the planned location.

He suggested earlier this week it might ease tensions if the center was further away from Ground Zero, and raised the possibility of offering state-owned land.

“I would hope that whatever spirituality exists would compel the developers to sit down and have this conversation,” Paterson said on WOR’s “The John Gambling Show” yesterday.

Mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal has said the group is interested in hearing from Paterson but added that “this has always been about serving lower Manhattan.”

Can you say hollow victory where bogus stories and incomplete/error-filled reporting trumps this group’s constitutional rights to build the center there?

Where exactly are they going to find a similar sized property with similar zoning in Lower Manhattan, which is the community that the group wants to serve with the community center and prayer space and mosque?