The once-grand passenger liner SS United States may be moving closer to conversion and restoration to a floating hotel, hospitality space, and museum.  RXR Realty, a real estate owner, operator, and developer in the New York Tri-State area, has partnered with the SS United States Conservancy to develop the ship as a waterfront destination.

The SS United States was delivered in 1952 for United States Lines. She was the largest and fastest passenger liner ever built in the United States and still holds the record as fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, earning the Blue Riband on her maiden voyage. She operated as a trans-Atlantic passenger liner until she was taken out of service in 1969. 

For the last 50 years, the ship has been in lay-up, for the past several decades in Philadelphia. Numerous restoration projects have proposed to out her back into service, but each has fallen through.  One of the more recent attempts was a  feasibility study performed by Crystal Cruises in 2016 in which they concluded that “while the SS United States is structurally sound, the technical and commercial challenges associated with returning the historic liner to service as a modern cruise ship have unfortunately proven insurmountable.”

While the current conversion project looks promising, the old ship does not yet have a home. From the SSUSC press release: In search of a permanent home for the United States, RXR is requesting expressions of interest from a number of major US waterfront cities with the intent of starting a conversation about how this unique project can be a major driver of economic activity through the creation of a new, contemporary centerpiece for their waterfronts. Those cities include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

If the project succeeds the SS United States will join other notable passenger liners that have been converted to floating hotels, including the Queen Mary in California; the QE2 in Dubai, the Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and the Sun Princess in Japan.