PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – In accordance with the Court evicted Sept. 12 from South Philadelphia dockThe SS United States was most likely sunk off the coast of Okaloosa County, Florida, as part of an artificial reef, CBS News Philadelphia has learned.
The county board of commissioners is expected to address the issue at a meeting Tuesday afternoon, according to sources, as well as public meeting agendas and briefing materials.
A spokesperson for the SS United States Conservancy said recently by phone that the organization has been in conversations with a handful of Florida counties because of the court-ordered deadline for the ship to leave Pier 82.
The delay has reportedly prompted the reserve to furiously try to locate a temporary or permanent pier after the court refused to allow the historic liner to remain at Pier 82 any longer.
According to some sources, sinking the ship, once it has been properly converted and complies with strict environmental regulations, is an alternative to simply scrapping it.
The SS United States Conservancy declined to comment further on the case. Sources cautioned that a number of unforeseen issues remained to be resolved and that the ship’s sinking was not yet a “done deal.”
For decades, the ship loomed over the South Philadelphia skyline, just north of the Walt Whitman Bridge and towering over a nearby Ikea parking lot.
CBS News Philadelphia
There were big plans for a SS United States “reimagined”. However, time is running out for the ship after Penn Warehousing, the owner of Pier 82, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a significant rent increaseAlthough the judge denied the increase, a mandatory eviction date was set for the ship, which is now less than two weeks away.
Moving the ship is expected to be an intensive process, with coordination between the port, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Delaware River tides.
Joe Holden
