The businessman says he has a better plan for the massive SS United States

A Brooklyn businessman has different ideas about what to do with the USS SS, which remains docked in Philadelphia as it prepares for journey to Mobile, Alabama to become the world’s largest artificial reef.

John Quadrozzi Jr., the concrete magnate and owner of the Gowanus Bay Terminal in Brooklyn, said recently Gothamist that they would like to transform the ship into a sustainable “floating ecosystem”.

“Coworking space, incubators. Preferably things that are more maritime and more environmentally focused… The vessel is just filled with small spaces in it, which would be ideal for this kind of use,” he said.

“It is built in stages. There are residences. There are commercial premises. They are industrial spaces.”

Quadrozzi and his supporter Dan McSweeney, co-founder of a preservation institution dedicated to the United States SS, who recently presented an idea to turn the ship into a floating vessel. affordable housing complex docked on the Hudson River, they rush to stop the ship before it disembarks for Mobile.

It was scheduled to depart on November 14, but was delayed due to weather issues. Officials have not announced a new date for the ship’s move.

Once the date is reset, it will take approximately two weeks for the tugs to tow the vessel to Mobile.

In Mobile, contractors will begin the process of making sure it’s safe for ocean life and drilling holes in its hull to land it upright at the bottom of the Gulf.

That process is expected to take a year, after which the ship will make its final journey to a location about 20 miles south of the Florida Panhandle in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area, according to the Okaloosa County Commission.

But Quadrozzi said he is not confident the ship can make it to shore for the restart.

“Taking a ship of this magnitude into the deep sea and around the Florida Horn, the likelihood of it even getting there is doubtful,” he told Gothamist.

Although Quadrozzi is still working to find a way to keep the ship up in the Northeast, Okaloosa County officials say he hasn’t contacted them. At present, their plan for the SS United States remains unchanged.

“I’m not familiar with that gentleman and what he’s up to in Brooklyn,” Okaloosa County spokesman Nick Tomecek told Gothamist.

“I know that Okaloosa County has acquired this vessel for the use of the largest artificial reef in the world.”

Originally designed as a top-secret convertible troop carrier during the Cold War in 1951, the SS United States carried presidents, famous actors, heads of state, tourists, members of the armed forces and immigrants before being decommissioned in 1969 .

Notable passengers included four US presidents (Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and a young Bill Clinton), Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne.