Copyright New York Post
It may be time to abandon ship. Pete Davidson and Colin Jost’s notorious Staten Island Ferry project is racking up tens of thousands of dollars in monthly docking fees as the craft, dubbed the “Titanic 2,’’ lingers in a Big Apple harbor. And the whopping costs are on top of an alleged outstanding $13,500 bill that the pair owes a law firm over the ship. Steve Kalil, president of Caddell Dry Dock & Repair — the Staten Island shipyard that lodges the boat — revealed to The Post that the duo has been shelling out massive monthly rent since April 2022, while their plans for a hip floating entertainment remain mothballed. The exact rent for the boat’s berth has not been revealed, but a $10,000-per-month docking fee would be “on the low side,” the New York Times first reported. The “Saturday Night Live” pals also allegedly still owe $13,500 to a downtown law firm that assisted them, alongside business partner Paul Italia, with initial docking and towing fees after they purchased a decommissioned ferryboat from the city in 2022. The law firm, Nicoletti, Hornig Namazi Eckert & Sheehan, has since sued the trio over the money. “No response to the lawsuit to date, and we have not received payment,” a rep from the firm told The Post on Tuesday. Post requests for comment from Davidson, Jost and Italia were not returned. The 277-foot ferryboat, formerly known as The John F. Kennedy, was purchased by the celebs at a city auction for $280,100, and they renamed it the Titanic 2. The comics at the time said they planned to transform it into a $34 million, 1960s-inspired floating event complex complete with two restaurants, a concert hall, six bars and hotel rooms. The Staten Island-bred Jost and Davidson have joked about their purchase being difficult to keep afloat from the onset. “This is why idiots should not be allowed to do things,” Jost said on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in the fall 2022. “Pete and I bought this boat, and like — there’s so many immediate decisions you have to make,” he said. Jost later added that the ferry was “absolutely the dumbest and least thought-through purchase I’ve ever made in my life.” While the Manhattan law firm remains disgruntled over its alleged lack of payment involving the project, Kalil insisted his relationship with the “SNL’’ buds has been nothing but smooth sailing. “There’s no problem with them,” Kalil told The Post in a phone interview. “Good tenants, absolutely. … They pay rent every month. They pay a lot.” The Staten Island boat-yard president insisted the vessel’s famous owners are “making good progress’’ with their plans. “These things take time,” he said. “There’s a lot of maneuvering before they start anything and move it [to another location],” he said. “They may surprise people, and get it done.”
