Ship's allies float new Foxwoods idea

Jennifer Lin -

Drawn by repeated distress signals from the Foxwoods Casino project, the preservation group at the helm of a historic ghost ship, the SS United States, is offering to sail upriver with a novel alternative.

The proposal: Move the derelict cruise liner about three-quarters of a mile north from its resting place at Pier 82 in South Philadelphia and place it next to a new 10-story garage with two floors of gaming.

Cut a dock into the 16-acre site and slip the bow in, facing Columbus Avenue. Renovate and refit the 58-year-old vessel - an estimated $150 million to $200 million job - with gaming floors, restaurants, event space, a museum, and, possibly, a boutique hotel.

"We can place the SS United States into the Foxwoods property in a way that showcases a national treasure and makes it a tourist draw," said Ken Smukler, an adviser to the SS United States Conservancy.

The Washington group is making the pitch at the eleventh hour, as Harrah's Entertainment races to close a deal to take over the stalled casino project before a new state deadline of Dec. 10.

The conservancy has approached Harrah's and the local Foxwoods investors about making the ship the centerpiece of the casino plan, according to Smukler. But by Friday, he said, neither the Las Vegas gaming giant nor the locals - Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners (PEDP) - had responded.

Contacted by The Inquirer, Stephen A. Cozen, a lawyer for the Foxwoods partners, replied by e-mail that he would have no comment.

However, Mayor Nutter, briefed on the proposal in recent weeks, described it Friday as "certainly one of the most unique, dynamic, and exciting plans for a casino anywhere in the United States of America."

Although long a critic of using waterfront land for big-box casinos, he noted a prestige factor in "having a casino in one of the largest ocean liners ever built."

And the fastest. The SS United States - retired in 1969 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places, yet repeatedly threatened with scrapping - still holds the record for a westward crossing of the Atlantic, set on its maiden voyage in 1952.

The conservancy completed a study on the feasibility of incorporating the ship into the Foxwoods project, Smukler said, and the result was a two-part, $450 million plan for developing gaming on land and aboard the vessel.

Under the terms of its state gaming license, the casino must be running by the end of 2012. So the first phase outlined in the conservancy study would be the construction of the 10-story garage, with permanent gaming space on the first two floors. Smukler said that could be done for about $250 million, close to what Harrah's expects to spend on a casino at the site.

The ship, he said, would be open for business by mid-2013.

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MICHAEL S. WIRTZ

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