by Jacob Adelman, Updated: March 11, 2020
RXR Realty LLC of New York plans to renovate the SS United States, the massive ocean liner that has spent decades deteriorating at a dock near South Philadelphia’s big-box shopping district, into a hotel-and-museum complex for a yet-to-be determined city’s waterfront.
The developer, whose properties include Manhattan’s Helmsley Building and 75 Rockefeller Center, is partnering with the 68-year-old vessel’s nonprofit owner, the SS United States Conservancy, to repurpose the ship as a “permanently moored floating structure anchored by a hotel," it said in a release Tuesday.
RXR is seeking interest from large waterfront cities, including Philadelphia, “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,” it said.