RXR Realty announced its intentions in March in conjunction with the SS United States Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that has owned the ship since 2011. It has been docked and deteriorating in Philadelphia since 1996 after being retired in 1969 because of competition from air travel.
In late 2018, RXR began studying the feasibility of renovating and converting the 990-foot ship, which has 600,000 square feet of developable space, into a floating dockside attraction. The company will now proceed on what it estimates will be a $500 million project, with work done over two years at a shipyard plus six months at the ship’s new homeport. RXR said it is in early talks with several shipyards that it has not identified.
The company will continue to pay more than $60,000 a month to cover dockage fees and other costs while moving on to the next major step: finding a city interested in having SS United States as a permanent attraction.
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