“SNL” star Colin Jost got candid about his decision to buy a Staten Island Ferry vessel with his former co-star Pete Davidson.
In 2022, Jost, 42, Davidson, 30, and comedy club owner Paul Italia and developer Ron Castellano bought the decommissioned ferry launched in 1965 – the MV John F. Kennedy – at a New York auction for $280,000 with plans to turn it into the Big Apple’s hottest nightclub.
During a recent interview with People magazine, Jost, who noted that he considers himself to be a “conservative” spender, shared his regrets over the investment.
“It is absolutely the dumbest and least thought-through purchase I’ve ever made in my life,” Jost said while speaking to People at the Tommy Hilfiger show during New York Fashion Week, which was held on the vessel.
He continued: “The way I justified it is for the amount of money we were putting into buying it, on just a basic square-footage level, is if you found the right place for it to be, you were essentially buying a building on its side that’s 65,000 square feet. So around New York, that is a very good price per square foot.”
COLIN JOST TAKES RIDE ON STATEN ISLAND FERRY HE PURCHASED WITH PETE DAVIDSON
Jost acknowledged that there has been minimal movement to renovate and run the historic ferry in the two years since he made the purchase with Davidson and Italia.
While speaking with People, he explained that the three investors haven’t been able to dedicate much time to the project since they have been too busy with their full-time careers on land.
Jost also noted that running the vessel would require hiring a staff, which he said is a responsibility that he wasn’t certain if he wanted to take on.
A few months after making the purchase, the Staten Island native was photographed setting sail from St. George Ferry Terminal for the first time. However, he told People that the partners’ insurance company would probably be against future joyrides.
“Maybe they would love it because it would get them out of the contract,” Jost quipped. “But it requires a lot of people to move it.”
Jost recalled that his wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, reacted with disbelief when he first shared that he was thinking of buying the ferry, but she has since come around and thinks that he and his partners should make the most of it.
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“She was just like, ‘Wait, so you own this boat now?’ Very fair question,” Jost said. “She now obviously sees the value in it, but also I think she’s like, ‘It’s now become something that is a defining thing for you guys and an interesting thing for you guys. So you should take it seriously and figure out the best version of it, because for better or worse, it’s going to reflect on you.’ We don’t care because we’re comedians.”
One of the comedian’s other partners on the project, Castellano, revealed in a March interview that the ferry will be converted into a floating hotel with 24 rooms, two restaurants and six bars.
“It’s going to have a lot of things,” Castellano told Curbed of the $34 million venue project.
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Castellano also shared that the ferry could be towed between New York and Miami.
“I think that’s exactly still the plan. It doesn’t have to be in one place. It can move, so we’re exploring both locations,” he explained.
However, Jost told People that he would prefer that New York remain the ferry’s permanent home.
“Being on the water in New York is very special,” Jost said. “I would love it obviously to be here. I think it’s special if it stays in New York in some way and I think it will be re-imagined, but the spirit of it will be the same.”
