Preservation Efforts
Since 2009, when Norwegian Cruise Line offered the ship for sale, there have been numerous plans to rescue the liner from the scrap yard. The SS United States Conservancy, a group trying to save United States, has been trying to come up with funding to purchase the ship. On 30 July 2009, H. F. Lenfest, a Philadelphia media entrepreneur and philanthropist, pledged a matching grant of $300,000 to help the United States Conservancy purchase the vessel from Star Cruises. A notable supporter, former US president Bill Clinton, has also endorsed rescue efforts to save the ship, having sailed on her himself in 1968.
By 7 May 2010, over $50,000 had been raised by The SS United States Conservancy and on 1 July 2010, the Conservancy struck a deal with Norwegian Cruise Line to buy SS United States from them for a reported $3 million dollars, despite a scrapper's bid for $5.9 million. The Conservancy was given until February 2011 to buy the ship and satisfy Environmental Protection Agency concerns related to toxins on the ship. They now have 20 months of financial support to develop a plan to clean the ship of toxins and make the ship financially self-supporting, possibly as a hotel or development. SS United States Conservancy executive director Dan McSweeney has stated that likely locations for the ship include Philadelphia, New York City and Miami. In November 2010, the Conservancy announced a plan to develop a "multi-purpose waterfront complex" with hotels, restaurants and a casino along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia at the proposed location for the stalled Foxwoods Casino project. A detailed study for the site was revealed in late November 2010, in advance of Pennsylvania's 10 December 2010 deadline for a deal aimed at Harrah's Entertainment taking over the casino project. On 16 December 2010, the Gaming Control Board voted to revoke the casino's license.
The SS United States Conservancy assumed ownership of United States on 1 February 2011. In March talks about possible locations in Philadelphia, New York City and Miami continued. In New York City, negotiations with a developer are underway for the ship to become part of the Vision 2020, a waterfront redevelopment plan totaling US$3.3 billion. In Miami, Ocean Group in Coral Gables was interested in putting the ship in a slip on the north side of American Airlines Arena. With an additional US$5.8 million donation from H. F. Lenfest, the conservancy had about 18 months from March 2011 to make the ship a public attraction. On 5 August 2011 the SS United States Conservancy announced that after conducting two studies focused on placing the ship in Philadelphia it was "not likely to work there for a variety of reasons." However, discussions to place the ship in her original home port of New York as a stationary attraction are ongoing. The Conservancy's grant specifies that the refit and restoration must be done in the Philadelphia Navy Yard for the benefit of the Philadelphia economy, regardless of her eventual mooring site, the Conservancy continues to negotiate with possible stakeholders in the New York area.
By 7 February 2012 preliminary work has begun on the restoration project to prepare the ship for her eventual rebuild, although a contract has not yet been signed. In April 2012 a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was released as the start of an aggressive search for a developer for the ship. A Request for Proposals (RFP) is expected to be issued in May. In July 2012, the SS United States Conservancy launched a new online campaign called "Save the United States", a blend of social networking and micro-fundraising, that allows donors to sponsor square inches of a virtual ship for redevelopment, while allowing them to upload photos and story content about their experience with the ship. The Conservancy announced that donors to the virtual ship will be featured in an interactive "Wall of Honor" aboard the future SS United States museum. As of September, 2012 US$6 Million had been raised to turn the ship into a permanent waterfront attraction. A developer will be chosen by the end of 2012 with the intent of putting the ship in a selected city by summer 2013.
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Famous quotes containing the words preservation and/or efforts:
“The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
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