Pete Davidson’s latest scheme to revamp his Staten Island ferry boondoggle is dead in the water.
A plan to dock the decommissioned ship-turned-party boat at a Manhattan pier for the blockbuster US 250 bash has officially sunk after the funnyman failed to secure the proper permits, The Post has learned.
The city’s Economic Development Corp broke the news to Community Board 1 Thursday — after its members spent weeks raising numerous concerns about wedging the John F. Kennedy ferry at Pier 15 near the South Street Seaport.
“We really want to make sure that there’s a demonstration of clear community benefit or protecting the quality of life. That the public deck stays a public deck. We don’t want to privatize what minimal public space we have on the waterfront for a pay-to-play always,” the board’s chair, Tammy Meltzer, told The Post.
What exactly sank the proposed plans is still unclear. Davidson and fellow SNL funnyman Colin Jost have plans to turn the ship into a massive party venue with restaurants and bars, though it’s unclear which sections would have been ready to open by the July 4th holiday.
Another second source told The Post that while the plans were off for July 4, permits could be approved to allow the Davidson and Jost’s vessel to berth at the lower Manhattan pier later this summer.
The EDC and City Hall refused to respond to numerous calls from The Post.
The Stand Group, a partner of Davidson and Jost, also failed to return numerous requests for comment.
The quiet plans had been revealed as a small footnote in an ongoing legal dispute over the lease between the Watermark Bar and the city — with the restaurant alleging that the EDC was rushing a plan to dock the famed ferry at Pier 15 at the expense of the tenants and the neighborhood.
“We’ve said many times: before moving forward with the proposal for this boat, there have to be clear answers regarding public safety, emergency response, infrastructure readiness, crowd management, transportation accessibility and event permitting,” said Meltzer.
“It’s really a complicated thing because it’s not a boat that can go anywhere — it has to be towed into place. It’s a venue that holds about 4,000 people that’s operating on a city-owned pier for an extended period of time.”
A rendering of the proposal shows the 300-foot-long decommissioned boat berthed on the northeast side of the pier — just a few feet away from the historic 19th-century vessels that live at the South Street Seaport Museum on the neighboring Pier 16.
“Moving a vessel of that size in close proximity with fragile historic vessels — none of the vessels we have are replaceable — creates inherent risk,” said Captain Jonathan Boulware, president and CEO of the South Street Seaport Museum.
Boulware also raised concerns that the JFK ferry would impede the museum’s daily operations.
“Our fleet relies on the ability to get people out on the water. What our vessels are doing on a normal day when there isn’t a big festival, we’re hosting visitors in New Yorkers, on the ships and in our galleries, and we’re taking New York City students out on the water on historic vessels,” Boulware continued.
While the future of the JFK ferry at Pier 15 remains unclear, Boulware, Meltzer and neighbors are finding solace in the fact that the massive orange vessel will not block views of 80 international ships parading through the New York Harbor on July 4.
The setback is the latest in a long line of issues for Davidson and Jost, who bought the renamed Titanic 2 for $280,100 in 2021 with dreams of turning it into a floating events complex with numerous bars, restaurants, and theaters.
The pair and their partners racked up tens of thousands of dollars in monthly docking monthly fees as their hopes floundered.
Recently, the funnymen struggled to gain a Staten Island group’s support for docking the vessel for half the year at one of its ports.
Jost famously joked that the ferry was “absolutely the dumbest and least thought-through purchase I’ve ever made in my life.
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