Editor’s note: It’s too late to bring the SS United States to New York City

Last week, Gothamist reported that John Quadrozzi Jr., owner of the Gowanus Bay Terminal, joined several backers in a last-minute bid to bring the famed trans-Atlantic ocean liner SS United States to the mouth of the Gowanus Canal. Dan McSweeney, a co-founder of the SS United States Conservancy, which owned the 74-year-old ship, was among the backers. McSweeney, who is no longer with the conservancy, earlier this year had his own idea of turning the ship into affordable housing on the Harlem River. However, a plan was already in motion last week to send the ship on its final journey from Philadelphia to Okaloosa County, Florida. There it will be sunk to become the world’s largest artificial reef. The county bought the ship for $1 million from the conservancy, ending a legal battle with the owner of the Philadelphia pier where the ship was docked and deteriorating since the 1990s.

Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty, also this year failed to gain support to convert the ship into a hotel at Pier 76 in Hudson River Park. Rechler’s proposal got no traction with the state, which owns the pier, nor local support. “Regrettably, leaders from the State of New York and the City of New York did not embrace the project, despite the world-class destination envisioned and the thousands of jobs and significant economic benefits the project would have created,” a spokesperson for the conservancy said in an email to City & State. Despite having so much interest from New York City, it’s too late to save what remains the largest ship ever built in the U.S. – and which still holds the record for fastest trans-Atlantic crossing – from a watery grave.