At a Staten Island shipyard, workers were busy on a recent morning repairing the Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican Navy sailing ship that smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge in May, killing two crew members.
Docked nearby was a problem vessel of another kind: the Staten Island Ferry owned by Colin Jost and Pete Davidson.
The John F. Kennedy, a 277-foot ferryboat, had once carried more than 3,000 passengers on its daily runs from Staten Island to Manhattan and back again. These days it sits on the Kill Van Kull tidal straight, its future as murky as the waters that surround it.
Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson, proud Staten Island natives who spent years together on “Saturday Night Live,” bought the decommissioned ferry nearly four years ago for $280,100.
When they looked at this 2,100-ton hunk of metal, they envisioned a floating events space, with two restaurants, six bars, a concert venue and hotel rooms with private sundecks. But as the years have gone by, and their grand $35 million plan comes no closer to being realized, it seems as if they might have paid $280,000 too much for it.
Mr. Jost, 43, has called the acquisition “the dumbest and least thought-through purchase I’ve ever made in my life.” Mr. Davidson, 31, has described it as “a lifelong problem for me and Colin.”
Legal troubles have added to their woes. Titanic 2, the limited liability company set up by Mr. Jost, Mr. Davidson and their business partners, has been sued for nonpayment by the law firm hired to handle contracts for dockage and towing.
In the lawsuit, filed in June at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the law firm Nicoletti, Hornig, Namazi, Eckert & Sheehan claimed that “Titanic 2 has failed and refused to pay its outstanding obligations” in the amount of $13,500. Val Wamser, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, wouldn’t go into specifics but said in an email: “We can confirm that we have not received payment yet or any response to our lawsuit as of this date.”
From Heritage Park, a waterfront expanse along Staten Island’s north shore, you can see the bright orange John F. Kennedy on the brackish waters. Unable to move under its own power — a fire damaged the engine long before it was sold — it bobs in the harbor like an immense bathtub toy, racking up docking fees.
Steve Kalil, the president of the shipyard, Caddell Dry Dock & Repair, declined to specify what Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson paid each month for dockage, but said a reporter’s estimate of $10,000 was “on the low side.” He added that it was unusual for a boat to sit so long with no repairs made. And he had no idea when the John F. Kennedy might depart.
“I’d like to say soon, but who knows,” Mr. Kalil said. “The hope is that they will eventually succeed in their dream. And we would be part of that.”
Anyone who has gotten in over their head with a fixer-upper project can sympathize with Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson. They made an impulse purchase during an online auction — who among us hasn’t?
But as mariners well know, a boat is a special kind of money pit — particularly one that’s 60 years old, larger than a superyacht and in need of extensive repairs and dock space in one of the world’s busiest and most regulated harbors.
The Auction
The Department of Citywide Administrative Services handles the disposition of obsolete inventory owned by New York City. Think Nortel office phones (quantity of 6), face masks (12 cases), or outdated editions of Webster’s New World Dictionary (9 copies). To get rid off this stuff, the obscure agency regularly holds public auctions.
It also deals in larger items, including decommissioned ferry boats. Typically, they go to companies seeking to sell them for scrap. That was the agency’s expectation when it put the John F. Kennedy up for sale on Jan. 12, 2022.
Larry Siegel, the city employee who oversaw the auction, estimated the ferry’s value as scrap at $60,000 to $100,000. But after factoring in its history and uniqueness, he set the bidding at $250,000.
Mr. Siegel, now retired, viewed his job as earning for the city as much revenue as possible. When the boat failed to attract any interest, he went with an age-old sales technique: He cut the price in half.
At the same time, agency employees tried to drum up interest on social media. A few posts went viral, at least by city government standards. One user tweeted at NBC, which broadcasts “Saturday Night Live,” asking the network to tip off Mr. Davidson and Mr. Jost. Perhaps that’s how Staten Island’s famous sons learned of this unusual opportunity. (Mr. Jost’s representatives did not reply to interview requests. A publicist for Mr. Davidson said he would prefer to “speak on it closer to completion.”)
Launched in 1965, the John F. Kennedy was the oldest vessel in the Staten Island Ferry fleet. In the auction listing, the agency did nothing to sugarcoat its seaworthiness. The boat was in “poor condition,” the agency said, having been “decommissioned due to mechanical issues on the propulsion end.” In short, it did not go.
And yet, during the weeklong auction, Mr. Jost sent a text to Mr. Davidson: “Split it?”
Both men had great fondness for the Staten Island Ferry. Mr. Jost once took it to and from Regis High School, a private Catholic school on the Upper East Side. In his 2020 memoir, “A Very Punchable Face,” he described it in the gently mocking tone that masks sincere affection: “Riding the ferry was not a ‘yacht life style.’ The ferry is known for its amazing views of the Statue of Liberty, but it’s also a great place to watch a raccoon eat a passenger’s leftover meth.”
Mr. Davidson’s warm feelings came through in “The King of Staten Island,” a 2020 comedy based partly on his life. In the film’s poignant final moments, the protagonist is riding a Manhattan-bound Staten Island Ferry in the company of the woman he’s meant to be with, if he could only see it, and they share a heartfelt kiss. To stirring music, an aerial camera shows a gull’s-eye view of the big orange boat.
As the 2022 auction neared its final hours, the city employee Mr. Siegel noticed a flurry of bids from new accounts. “I was, like, ‘Oh, this is different,’” he recalled. “‘We have breached the scrap metal industry!’”
The name attached to the top bid was Paul Italia. When Mr. Siegel discovered that Mr. Italia was a co-owner of a Manhattan comedy club, the Stand, he worried the whole thing might be a practical joke.
But the purchase was neither practical nor a joke: Mr. Italia was part of the group including Mr. Jost, Mr. Davidson and Ron Castellano, a New York architect who would oversee the plans to transform the bedraggled vessel into a dazzling hospitality complex.
“Everyone who came together on this has a sincere motive to see the right thing happen, to restore a piece of New York,” Mr. Italia told The New York Times after placing the winning bid.
On a cold day shortly after the auction, Mr. Davidson paid a visit to the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, where the Department of Transportation was housing the inoperable boat.
Dressed in a puffy brown coat, wool cap and sunglasses, he told a New York Post reporter about riding the ferry as a young comic on his way to do stand-up in Manhattan. When he looked upon his purchase, he seemed a little dazed. “It’s sick,” he said, seemingly in approval.
The next day, in a “Weekend Update” segment on “Saturday Night Live,” Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson acknowledged the story that had been all over the news.
“We bought a ferry — the windowless van of the sea,” Mr. Davidson said with a smirk.
“Yes, it’s very exciting,” Mr. Jost said. “We thought the whole thing through.”
Rough Sailing
New York City takes no responsibility for the delivery of its former property, whether filing cabinet or ferryboat. Which meant Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson had 10 days to fetch it.
Without a working engine, it had to be towed. That was easily solved, given the 30 tugboat companies in New York Harbor willing to transport a ship for around $1,700 an hour. The real problem was finding a place to tow the ferry to in a city where even parking spots are scarce.
Only a few private shipyards are still in operation along the city’s waterfront, and space is precious. To dock at a public pier on the Hudson or East rivers would require formal approval from an alphabet soup of city and state agencies.
Mr. Italia studied satellite images of New York Harbor and contacted anyone he could find who owned waterfront property. The 10-day deadline came and went.
In February, the administration of Mayor Eric Adams extended the deadline. But the vessel remained at St. George Terminal into April.
Mr. Jost was finally able to take a victory cruise of sorts on April 11, 2022, when he had the John F. Kennedy towed three miles, to the Staten Island shipyard. His father, Daniel, a retired schoolteacher, rode along with him.
Five months later, during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” Mr. Jost seemed to be feeling the brunt of his impulse buy. “This is why idiots should not be allowed to do things,” he said. “Pete and I bought this boat and then, like, there’s so many immediate decisions you have to make.”
One of those decisions was finding the right name for the limited liability company they had set up for their project. They quickly learned that their idea of a corporate name, Titanic 2, did not go over well in the business world.
“Suddenly, we’re looking for insurance, which we have to buy, because it’s a giant deathtrap boat,” Mr. Jost told Mr. Meyers. “And then every insurance company is like: ‘It’s called Titanic 2?’”
Months passed. But the world did not forget Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson’s expensive lark. During talk show appearances and red carpet events, they were prodded for updates.
Even Mr. Jost’s wife, the actress Scarlett Johansson, couldn’t escape. During a June 2023 appearance on “Live With Kelly and Mark,” the host Mark Consuelos began with: “I heard that your husband, Colin Jost, and Pete Davidson bought a — ”
“The Staten Island Ferry!” Ms. Johansson said, closing her eyes and lowering her head. “Yeah.”
She recalled her husband’s “secretive phone calls” in the days before he texted her to say they owned a ferryboat. Asked for her reaction, Ms. Johansson said, “I guess surprised. I was like: ‘What are we doing with this?’”
On June 5, 2023, at the New York premiere of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” Mr. Davidson was asked by “Entertainment Tonight” if he would host an after-party on his boat.
“Yeah, if it’s not sunk!” he said.
“I have no idea what’s going on with that thing,” he added. “Me and Colin were very stoned a year ago and bought a ferry. And we’re figuring it out.”
Nine days later, Mr. Jost went on Instagram to clarify things: “Is it worse that I was actually stone-cold sober when we bought the ferry?”
Soon after that, Mr. Davidson sounded more optimistic. “There’ll be a restaurant, there’ll be a concert venue, there’ll be a movie theater,” he said during an appearance on the podcast “Family Trips With the Meyers Brothers,” adding that the party barge would be towed 1,100 miles to spend winters in Miami.
Amid the owners’ shifting feelings, from elation to despair, costs were growing. It’s likely that storage fees alone for the John F. Kennedy have exceeded $600,000, or more than double the purchase price. Add to that the insurance, towing and legal fees. In one month alone, the law firm Nicoletti, Hornig charged the owners $27,335, according to the lawsuit.
More costs arose from Mr. Castellano’s work on the designs with Persak & Wurmfeld, a New York naval architecture firm. The renovation of the vessel would be knotty indeed, given that the John F. Kennedy, like many boats of its vintage, contains asbestos, which would have to be removed before it could pass state or city inspection.
“The thing about asbestos is, it’s not an issue until you go to take it out,” said Patrick Quincannon, president of Quincannon Associates, a New York-based ship broker. “It has to be done in hazmat gear. You’re looking at salty numbers to do asbestos remediation.”
A prime location for a floating entertainment venue would be somewhere along Manhattan or Brooklyn — say, a pier on the East River. That, too, is easier dreamed of than done, said Mr. Quincannon, who listed the practicalities a group of well-meaning rookies may not have considered.
“Those ferries are big, so you would need dolphin heads to secure it,” he said, referring to a multipoint mooring system. “On the East River, the current rips along there.”
Christopher O. Ward, the interim head of the Waterfront Alliance, a New York advocacy group, mentioned another impediment: underwater shadows.
Large boats block sunlight, which can damage marine ecosystems and kill aquatic life over time, Mr. Ward explained. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has been “strident in its administration and regulation of shadow on waterfront locations,” he said.
At this point, even selling the boat for scrap — if that’s what Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson decide to do — wouldn’t bring relief from the money bleed. Scrap markets are weak right now, said Tommy O’Toole, a partner at Compass Maritime, a brokerage firm in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., that handles ship sales.
Compared with oceangoing vessels, ferries are lightweight and not that valuable to recyclers. And the ship recyclers that pay the highest prices in the United States are located from Mobile, Ala., to Brownsville, Tex. The John F. Kennedy would have to be towed all that way.
“Let’s say something weighed 2,000 tons,” Mr. O’Toole said, doing some back-of-the-envelope math. “If it’s worth $150 a ton to scrap, that’s 300 grand. If the tow cost you $350,000, you’d have to pay someone $50,000.”
Kevin Hennessey, the former captain of the John F. Kennedy, wished Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson luck, even as he told The Daily News in 2022 that the boat had a serious cockroach problem. “This was an impulse buy by two guys with a lot of money who don’t know anything about maritime vessels,” Mr. Hennessey said.
In May 2025, “Saturday Night Live” aired a sketch set aboard a ferry. Two passengers get into a spat while seated in parked cars during a crossing. When one character, played by the cast member Mikey Day, remarks that he loves ferries, Mr. Jost makes a sudden cameo. “If you love ferries, would you like to buy one?” he shouts. “Please buy it!”
To date, the John F. Kennedy has left its Staten Island slip just once — in September 2024, when it was towed to Pier 17 in Manhattan to host a Tommy Hilfiger presentation during New York Fashion Week. Wearing a crisp suit, Mr. Jost welcomed the guests, which included Brooke Shields and members of Staten Island’s own Wu-Tang Clan.
The gathering offered a glimpse of what the vessel could be. “I always had faith that it will be something really fun,” Mr. Jost said that day.
He and his partners aren’t the first to see potential in an old ferryboat. In 1966, the entrepreneur Herbert R. Axelrod bought four decommissioned Staten Island Ferries with the notion of turning them into floating restaurants. His plan never came off.
The marina owner George Searle had the same idea in 1976, when he bought an out-of-service Staten Island Ferry. It remained at his marina along the Raritan River in New Jersey for more than 30 years, when it was finally pulled apart for scrap.
Whatever the fate of the dream boat owned by Mr. Jost and Mr. Davidson, one thing is clear. As Mr. Quincannon put it: “They’re paying out a lot to have this thing just sitting there while they figure out what to do.”
Mr. Davidson, for his part, has yet to give up. “We have a really good plan,” he said in a recent appearance on the YouTube talk show “Hot Ones.” “It’s fun to have a dream.”
Steven Kurutz covers cultural trends, social media and the world of design for The Times.
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