Stop me if you already heard the joke that Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson and Colin Jost bought the former Staten Island ferry, and are turning it into a $34M entertainment complex and traveling hotel.
That’s right, and it’s not a joke.
Colin Jost and Pete Davidson bought the decommissioned Staten Island Ferry for $280,000 back in January of 2022. They announced their purchase during a skit on SNL’s Weekend Update segment.
In interviews Pete Davidson said/joked that he and Colin Jost were “very stoned” when they bought the Staten Island ferry. Colin Jost later said “Is it worse that I was actually stone-cold sober when we bought the ferry?”
The 277-foot-long boat is currently moored on a Staten Island dock awaiting a $34 million dollar renovation that will turn it into a 65,000 square foot entertainment space with two restaurants, a furnished patio top deck, a 24 room hotel, two clubs, and even possibly a pool (although the celebrity founders are at odds over the size of the pool or hot tube.)
The converted ferry isn’t expected to set sail anytime soon, with renovations expected to take a few years. When they’re done it’ll never sail again under its own power. Instead it will be moved via tug boat from location to location as it travels up and down the East coast as a floating entertainment complex and hotel.
Keeping with the comedy day jobs, the pair jokingly named the company they created to buy the former Staten Island ferry the Titanic II, which then led to all sorts of problems when they tried to get insurance. You can see why insurance companies might be a little hesitant.
Pete Davidson and Colin Jost’s Ferry Will Become $34M Traveling Hotel