NEW YORK — “Saturday NIght Live’s” Pete Davidson and Colin Jost’s Staten Island Ferry boat is being looked at as a possible attraction at NYC’s South Street Seaport during the World Cup, sparking concern among community members that a “six-story nightclub” could soon be floating in their midst, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n
Details of the under-the-radar plan are sketchy at this point, with reps for Davidson and Jost, as well as City Hall, not returning calls.<\/p>\n
But the Daily News has learned that an effort is underway to try to fast-track bringing the John F. Kennedy, the two comics’ 300-foot-long decommissioned Staten Island Ferry boat, to the Seaport for both the five-week-long FIFA soccer tournament<\/a> — which kicked off Thursday — and the America250 celebrations in early July.<\/a><\/p>\n According to a source, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is very much behind “putting the boat in in a hurry” at the Seaport, specifically at Pier 15 — and the World Cup is the driving force behind the rushed plan.<\/p>\n “There’s a level of expedience here that’s surprising,” the source said.<\/p>\n It’s no secret Mamdani is a huge World Cup booster, having appointed a “World Cup czar,”<\/a> raffled off 1,000 $50 game tickets<\/a> and even created a Midtown traffic plan<\/a> for the eight local match days, among other things.<\/p>\n The ferry group’s lobbyist — Ariel Palitz, the city’s first “nightlife mayor” from 2018-23, who now heads Venue Advisors — also did not respond to questions from The News.<\/p>\n In 2022, the two “SNL” stars, along with comedy club owner Paul Italia and a fourth partner, bought the 60-year-old ferry for $280,000 at city auction, in hopes of turning it into a floating event and party space. Since then, though, the tangerine-colored, former transport vessel has sat at a dry dock on Staten Island.<\/p>\n The hulk has made it to the Seaport once — in September 2024 when it was towed to Pier 17 for a Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Week event. One weekend last November it was tugged around the harbor wrapped in a pink Nike ad. But a promotional presentation for the vessel a few years ago — with the tagline “A Look at 6 Decks of Food, Drink and Entertainment” — made the owners’ dreams for it clear.<\/p>\n However, the South Street Seaport Museum says the comedy duo’s big “party boat” is the wrong fit for the landmarked historic district. Meanwhile, the chairperson of Lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1<\/a> says the ferry team has yet to make their plan public.<\/p>\n A design rendering, created just a few weeks ago and obtained by the Daily News, shows the powerless ferry berthed on the north side of Pier 15, tucked in behind the replica schooner Pride of Baltimore.<\/p>\n Tammy Meltzer, the CB 1 chairperson, said the ferry group first reached out to the board only last month, after which she met virtually with Italia and lobbyist Palitz. In March, the city’s Economic Development Corporation told the board it was in “exploration conversations” with the ferry team for use of Pier 15, though offered few details.<\/p>\n According to Meltzer, the JFK has a stated capacity of 3,500 — and could possibly hold up to 5,000.<\/p>\n “There are very few event spaces in New York City that can hold 3,500 people,” she said, “and this has the capacity to be bigger than that.”<\/p>\n The hope is the ship would be more than merely a massive event space with bars and restaurants, but could also offer public space and programming, she said.<\/p>\n “If you’re going to bring something that’s equal to a seven-story building to the waterfront, you should have a plan before you park it (here),” Meltzer told The News. “I think there should be community engagement.”<\/p>\n