At a Staten Island shipyard recently, workers were diligently repairing the Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican Navy sailing ship that tragically crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge in May, resulting in the loss of two crew members.
Right alongside, a different kind of troubled vessel sat — the infamous Staten Island Ferry acquired by comedians Colin Jost and Pete Davidson.
The “John F. Kennedy,” a colossal 277-foot ferryboat, once ferried over 3,000 passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan daily. Today, it languishes on the Kill Van Kull tidal strait, its fate as murky and uncertain as the murky waters it rests upon.
Colin Jost and Pete Davidson, both proud Staten Island natives and long-time “Saturday Night Live” cast members, purchased the decommissioned ferry almost four years ago for a cool $280,100.
Gazing upon this 2,100-ton metal behemoth, they envisioned a dazzling floating event space complete with two restaurants, six bars, a vibrant concert venue, and luxurious hotel rooms featuring private sundecks. Yet, as the years tick by, their ambitious $35 million dream remains stalled, suggesting they might have overpaid significantly for their grand acquisition.
Jost, 43, has candidly admitted it was “the dumbest and least thought-through purchase” of his life, while Davidson, 31, has jokingly labeled it “a lifelong problem for me and Colin.”
Adding to their mounting frustrations, “Titanic 2,” the limited liability company formed by Jost, Davidson, and their partners, is now facing a lawsuit for unpaid bills from the law firm tasked with managing dockage and towing contracts.
Credit: Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank, via Getty Images
Filed in June at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the lawsuit by Nicoletti, Hornig, Namazi, Eckert & Sheehan alleges that “Titanic 2” has failed to honor its outstanding obligations, totaling $13,500. Val Wamser, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, confirmed via email that no payment or response to the suit has been received to date.
From Heritage Park on Staten Island’s north shore, one can spot the bright orange “John F. Kennedy” bobbing idly in the brackish waters. Crippled by engine fire long before its sale, it now resembles an enormous bathtub toy, steadily accumulating costly docking fees.
Steve Kalil, president of Caddell Dry Dock & Repair, wouldn’t disclose the monthly dockage fees but hinted that a reporter’s estimate of $10,000 was “on the low side.” He noted the unusual duration the boat has remained without repairs and expressed uncertainty about its departure.
“I’d like to say soon, but who knows,” Kalil remarked. “The hope is that they will eventually succeed in their dream, and we would be part of that.”
Anyone familiar with ambitious fixer-upper projects can surely empathize with Jost and Davidson. After all, who hasn’t made an impulsive online purchase they later questioned?
However, experienced mariners understand that a boat is a unique kind of financial drain, especially a 60-year-old vessel larger than a superyacht, requiring extensive repairs and prime dock space in one of the world’s most bustling and regulated harbors.
The Auction of a Lifetime
New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services is responsible for offloading obsolete city assets, ranging from old office phones and face masks to outdated dictionaries. This lesser-known agency regularly hosts public auctions to clear out these items.
The agency also handles larger disposals, like decommissioned ferry boats, which are usually sold for scrap. This was the expectation when the “John F. Kennedy” was listed for sale on January 12, 2022.
Larry Siegel, the now-retired city employee managing the auction, initially valued the ferry at $60,000 to $100,000 for scrap. However, considering its unique history, he bravely set the opening bid at $250,000.
Credit: Sara Messinger for The New York Times
Siegel, whose mission was to maximize city revenue, found himself with a problem when the boat initially failed to attract bids. Employing a classic sales tactic, he slashed the price by half.
Concurrently, agency staff utilized social media to generate buzz. A few posts, by government standards, even went viral, with one user notably tagging NBC (broadcaster of “Saturday Night Live”) to alert Davidson and Jost. This might have been how the famous Staten Islanders discovered their unusual opportunity. (Jost’s representatives declined comment, while a publicist for Davidson preferred to wait “closer to completion” to discuss it.)
Launched in 1965, the “John F. Kennedy” was the oldest ferry in the fleet. The auction listing was unflinchingly honest about its condition: “poor,” and “decommissioned due to mechanical issues on the propulsion end.” In simpler terms, it couldn’t move.
Nevertheless, amidst the week-long auction, Jost impulsively texted Davidson: “Split it?”
Both comedians held a deep, if sometimes sarcastic, affection for the Staten Island Ferry. Jost, who commuted on it to Regis High School on the Upper East Side, famously wrote in his 2020 memoir, “A Very Punchable Face,” that riding the ferry was hardly a “yacht life style.” He fondly recalled its “amazing views of the Statue of Liberty” but also quipped it was “a great place to watch a raccoon eat a passenger’s leftover meth.”
Davidson’s sentimental connection to the ferry was evident in “The King of Staten Island,” his 2020 comedy loosely based on his life. The film’s moving climax features the protagonist aboard a Manhattan-bound ferry, sharing a heartfelt kiss with the woman he loves, all set against a breathtaking aerial shot of the iconic orange vessel.
As the 2022 auction approached its conclusion, Siegel observed a sudden surge of bids from unfamiliar accounts. “I was, like, ‘Oh, this is different,'” he recounted. “‘We have breached the scrap metal industry!'”
The winning bid came from Paul Italia. Upon learning that Italia co-owned a Manhattan comedy club, “The Stand,” Siegel momentarily feared the entire transaction might be an elaborate prank.
Credit: Sara Messinger for The New York Times
Yet, the purchase was neither a prank nor entirely practical: Italia was indeed part of a consortium including Jost, Davidson, and New York architect Ron Castellano, who was slated to spearhead the transformation of the dilapidated vessel into a spectacular 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,” Italia shared with The New York Times after securing the winning bid.
A few cold days post-auction, Davidson visited the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, where the inoperable vessel was docked by the Department of Transportation.
Clad in a puffy brown coat, wool cap, and sunglasses, he recounted to a New York Post reporter memories of riding the ferry as a budding comic on his way to perform stand-up in Manhattan. Upon seeing his new acquisition, Davidson appeared somewhat bewildered, yet declared it “sick,” seemingly with approval.
The following day, during a “Weekend Update” segment on “Saturday Night Live,” both Jost and Davidson addressed the widely reported story.
“We bought a ferry — the windowless van of the sea,” Davidson quipped with a smirk.
“Yes, it’s very exciting,” Jost added, deadpan. “We thought the whole thing through.”
Rough Waters Ahead
New York City, it turns out, absolves itself of responsibility for delivering its disposed property, whether a filing cabinet or a massive ferryboat. This left Jost and Davidson with a mere 10 days to retrieve their purchase.
With its engine defunct, the ferry required towing. This logistical hurdle was easily cleared by the numerous tugboat companies in New York Harbor, available at approximately $1,700 per hour. The true challenge, however, lay in finding a suitable docking location in a city notorious for its scarcity of even basic parking spots.
New York City’s waterfront boasts only a handful of operational private shipyards, where space is a premium. Securing a spot at a public pier along the Hudson or East Rivers would necessitate navigating a labyrinth of city and state agency approvals.
Credit: Sara Messinger for The New York Times
Italia meticulously scoured satellite images of New York Harbor and reached out to every waterfront property owner he could locate. The initial 10-day retrieval deadline passed without the ferry being moved.
In February, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration granted an extension, but the vessel remained stubbornly docked at St. George Terminal until April.
On April 11, 2022, Jost finally enjoyed a “victory cruise” of sorts, overseeing the three-mile tow of the “John F. Kennedy” to a Staten Island shipyard, accompanied by his retired schoolteacher father, Daniel.
Five months later, during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” Jost openly lamented his impulsive purchase. “This is why idiots should not be allowed to do things,” he declared. “Pete and I bought this boat, and then, like, there’s so many immediate decisions you have to make.”
Among those urgent decisions was naming their limited liability company. Their initial choice, “Titanic 2,” proved to be a rather ill-advised selection in the corporate world.
“Suddenly, we’re looking for insurance, which we have to buy, because it’s a giant deathtrap boat,” Jost explained to Meyers. “And then every insurance company is like: ‘It’s called Titanic 2?'”
Months turned into seasons, yet public fascination with Jost and Davidson’s expensive escapade didn’t wane. They were constantly pressed for updates during talk show appearances and red carpet events.
Even Jost’s wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, wasn’t immune. During a June 2023 appearance on “Live With Kelly and Mark,” host Mark Consuelos began, “I heard that your husband, Colin Jost, and Pete Davidson bought a —”
“The Staten Island Ferry!” Johansson interjected, closing her eyes and lowering her head in a mix of exasperation and resignation. “Yeah.”
She recalled her husband’s “secretive phone calls” leading up to his text announcing their ferryboat ownership. When asked for her reaction, Johansson confessed, “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,” “Entertainment Tonight” asked Davidson if he’d host an after-party on his newly acquired vessel.
“Yeah, if it’s not sunk!” he quipped.
“I have no idea what’s going on with that thing,” he admitted. “Me and Colin were very stoned a year ago and bought a ferry. And we’re figuring it out.”
Just nine days later, Jost took to Instagram to set the record straight: “Is it worse that I was actually stone-cold sober when we bought the ferry?”
Shortly thereafter, Davidson’s outlook brightened. “There’ll be a restaurant, there’ll be a concert venue, there’ll be a movie theater,” he shared on the podcast “Family Trips With the Meyers Brothers,” adding that the party barge would even be towed 1,100 miles to spend winters in Miami.
As the owners’ emotions swung from initial elation to growing despair, the costs continued to spiral. Storage fees alone for the “John F. Kennedy” have likely surpassed $600,000—more than double the purchase price. This is in addition to insurance, towing, and substantial legal fees; the Nicoletti, Hornig law firm, for instance, billed the owners $27,335 in a single month, as revealed in the lawsuit.
Credit: Sara Messinger for The New York Times
Additional expenses stemmed from Castellano’s design collaborations with Persak & Wurmfeld, a New York naval architecture firm. The vessel’s renovation is proving particularly challenging, as the “John F. Kennedy,” like many boats of its era, contains asbestos. This toxic material must be safely removed before it can clear state or city inspections.
“The thing about asbestos is, it’s not an issue until you go to take it out,” explained Patrick Quincannon, president of Quincannon Associates, a New York ship brokerage. “It has to be done in hazmat gear. You’re looking at salty numbers to do asbestos remediation.”
While a floating entertainment venue would ideally be located along Manhattan or Brooklyn, perhaps on an East River pier, achieving this is far more complex than it sounds, according to Quincannon. He outlined several practicalities that a group of well-intentioned novices might have overlooked.
“Those ferries are big, so you would need ‘dolphin heads’ to secure it,” he noted, referring to specialized multipoint mooring systems. “On the East River, the current rips along there.”
Christopher O. Ward, interim head of the Waterfront Alliance, a New York advocacy group, highlighted another significant hurdle: underwater shadows.
Ward explained that massive boats cast shadows that can severely damage marine ecosystems by blocking sunlight, eventually killing aquatic life. He emphasized that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is “strident in its administration and regulation of shadow on waterfront locations.”
Credit: Amir Hamja for The New York Times
At this juncture, even scrapping the boat wouldn’t alleviate the financial hemorrhage for Jost and Davidson. Tommy O’Toole, a partner at Compass Maritime, a ship brokerage in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., stated that scrap markets are currently weak.
Ferries, being lighter than ocean-going vessels, hold less scrap value for recyclers. Moreover, the top-paying ship recyclers in the U.S. are located far away, from Mobile, Alabama, to Brownsville, Texas, meaning the “John F. Kennedy” would need an expensive tow across vast distances.
“Let’s say something weighed 2,000 tons,” O’Toole mused, doing quick mental math. “If it’s worth $150 a ton to scrap, that’s $300,000. If the tow cost you $350,000, you’d have to pay someone $50,000.”
Kevin Hennessey, the “John F. Kennedy’s” former captain, wished Jost and Davidson well, despite having told The Daily News in 2022 that the boat suffered from a severe cockroach infestation. “This was an impulse buy by two guys with a lot of money who don’t know anything about maritime vessels,” Hennessey stated bluntly.
Credit: Nina Westervelt/WWD, via Getty Images
In May 2025, a “Saturday Night Live” sketch featured a ferry setting. During a squabble between two passengers in parked cars, cast member Mikey Day’s character declared his love for ferries. Suddenly, Jost made a cameo, shouting, “If you love ferries, would you like to buy one? Please buy it!”
So far, the “John F. Kennedy” has only departed its Staten Island dock once: in September 2024, when it was towed to Pier 17 in Manhattan to serve as a venue for a Tommy Hilfiger presentation during New York Fashion Week. Dressed impeccably, Jost personally welcomed guests, including Brooke Shields and members of Staten Island’s legendary Wu-Tang Clan.
That event offered a tantalizing glimpse of the vessel’s potential. “I always had faith that it will be something really fun,” Jost expressed that day.
Jost and his partners are far from the first to eye an old ferryboat’s potential. In 1966, entrepreneur Herbert R. Axelrod purchased four decommissioned Staten Island Ferries, intending to transform them into floating restaurants, but his vision never materialized.
Credit: Richard Perry/The New York Times
Marina owner George Searle harbored a similar ambition in 1976, acquiring an out-of-service Staten Island Ferry. It sat in his New Jersey marina for over three decades, eventually meeting its fate as scrap.
Regardless of the ultimate fate of Jost and Davidson’s dream boat, one truth remains undeniable: as Quincannon aptly summarized, “They’re paying out a lot to have this thing just sitting there while they figure out what to do.”
For his part, Davidson hasn’t abandoned hope. “We have a really good plan,” he affirmed during a recent appearance on the YouTube talk show “Hot Ones.” “It’s fun to have a dream.”