Red Hook concrete mogul seeks to save historic ocean liner

November 20, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

John Quadrozzi, Jr., president of the Gowanus Bay Terminal ~ (GBX). Eagle photo by Mary Frost

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RED HOOK – BROOKLYN’S JOHN QUADROZZI, Jr., a local concrete businessman who owns the Gowanus Bay Terminal, is working on a last-minute effort to halt a plan to sink the historic S.S. United States ocean liner in Florida, reports Gothamist. It is currently docked in Philadelphia and was purchased previously by Okaloosa County in Florida, which hopes to turn it into an artificial reef and diving attraction. Quadrozzi has for nearly a decade backed alternate plans to turn the United States into a multi-purpose office or entertainment space, and says he has a berth cleared for it in the Gowanus Canal.

Other supporters of the ship, including the S.S. United States Conservancy, have been fighting the Florida plan in court, and have suggested alternate uses for the ship, including a conversion to affordable housing. Okaloosa officials, however, say they intend to move forward with the reef project and say they have not heard directly from Quadrozzi.

The ship is the largest ocean liner ever built and hosted iconic celebrities in its day; it still holds the record for fastest transatlantic crossing.

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