The announcement including a rendering is here: http://t.co/8wtc1dFR4Y

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In the coming weeks, the Conservancy will be providing a "sneak peek" of some of the conceptual renderings that have been generated by top architectural firms as they reimagine the rebirth of the SS United States. This image illustrates how "America's Flagship" might appear as a stationary mixed-use museum and development complex. A number of architects and designers have been developing a range of creative approaches, and these will be enhanced and refined as the process advances. The Conservancy looks forward to sharing these concepts with its members and to receiving your input and suggestions.

SS United States Redevelopment Update

As you know, the Conservancy entered into a preliminary agreement to advance the SS United States' redevelopment with an impressive team including some of the nation's most qualified, respected, and innovative developers and managers of commercial real estate. Our partners share our passion for America's Flagship and fully appreciate the ship's iconic status and the importance of preserving the vessel's historic integrity. In recent months, an intensive due diligence process has been underway, involving a large team of architects, engineers, and maritime experts.

Major progress has been achieved, but many hurdles remain. The project is extraordinarily complex and it requires the design and construction of new pier infrastructure, a full exterior restoration, updating of internal systems, dry-docking, and internal redesign and restoration, all while retaining the vessel's iconic exterior and incorporating a world-class museum, Non-disclosure agreements limit the amount of information we've been able to provide to our supporters. However, we wanted to share the latest updates:

Gibbs & Cox, the marine engineering and naval architectural firm that designed the SS United States, has been retained by our development partners to advance a process of due diligence and generate detailed vessel plans. Gibbs & Cox has also overseen outreach to shipyards, joiners, designers, and a range of specialists.

A number of exciting and wide-ranging conceptual renderings have been developed for the ship by some of the nation's top architectural firms. While they are still very preliminary, we look forward to sharing some of these initial concepts and receiving your input.

Meetings with major hotel brands have been held with very positive results, and an informal working relationship has been established between the developers and a major hotel chain interested in exploring their involvement in the ship's renaissance.

Our development partners have invested more than $500,000 during this exploratory phase, and they are committing additional personnel and financial resources in the coming months as they work to resolve the project's remaining challenges.

Renewed Fundraising Campaign

Due to the project's complexity, the due diligence process has extended beyond the period in which the developers were obligated to pay the vessel's monthly carrying costs. As a result, the Conservancy has the resources to cover the ship's ongoing carrying costs for a very limited time. We hope to negotiate a new agreement over the next 60 days. However, at this crucial juncture, we must resume our fundraising.

While our partners will be looking to raise millions to finance the ship's development, the Conservancy must raise an additional $180,000 between now and August 15.

In the coming weeks we will share further details on our summer fundraising and outreach plans. We are organizing a festive event in Philadelphia on July 30 - please mark your calendars!

We will also be offering new branded merchandise and we will be mounting a major membership drive.

Contributions of any size will be an enormous help as we enter this final phase. Donations can be made online at http://www.ssusc.org/give-and-join/donate/

That does not alter the fact that it would still be cheaper to build a stationary replica of the ' ss United States ' which could be used as a museum ship and also meet all the latest safety regulations required for a stationary ship ! .

It would also save on the present mooring fees still being wasted.

The wreck of what was a fast US passenger ship should now be scrapped to save money and then sell parts of her for raising more money to build a replica ship !

Putting this wreck in New York harbour is not the end of the costs of operating her as her maintenance will still cost millions of dollars a year.

She should now be scrapped as many people who were about when she set the fastest crossing of the atlantic ocean recoreds are no longer with us !

A group of enthusiasts of the decommissioned aircraft known as The Concorde Club have amassed £160million to give the supersonic passenger jet a new lease of life.

DailyMail: Concorde set to return to the skies: Supersonic jet may be used for charter flights by 2019

Perhaps the SSUS Foundation can borrow some fund raising ideas, or at least do something that's not 'we can't tell you what but we are making progress behind the scenes'

When you entered the plane there was a hallway that was her computers for the flight technology. Today I would bet my laptop could do the same or maybe a smart phone! And while the plane was incredible it was using very old technology that is completely different versus what a modern commercial plane is.

Further with only seating for 100 passengers the economics are very different versus a modern commercial plane.

Floating on the water is a much better idea. More people can visit in a week than can fly in months.

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Originally posted by SSTRAVELER:
The fact that the Concord's technology was so old and that she was going to need a renewal of its flight certificates was an unwritten (or unacknowledged) contributor to the reason the plane was retired. BA had said that the economics of a redo of its flight controls just did not make sense based on the plane's earnings capabilities.

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One other thing about Concorde's technology is that one of the issues could be said to be that it is too young rather than too old. Comparisons have been drawn between Vulcan's continued flying (although now only for a couple more weeks) and Concorde's permanent grounding. If (so the question goes) an old bird like Vulcan can be restored to flight, why not Concorde? The answer is that Vulcan's technology was about a decade older and so was much simpler. Concorde's technology was more modern, and requires more sophisticated looking after.

There is one valid parallel, though: Vulcan is being grounded in a couple of weeks time because the manufacturers (this time both the airframe and the engine manufacturers) have said that they are no longer prepared to support the aircraft. So the CoA will similarly now be withdrawn.

I know they looked at updating the computer technology and that would have been costly first to do but then the flight certificates would have to have been redone and that made it cost prohibitive they said.

You know more about the Vulcan than me but isn't there a difference between getting a plane into commercial service carrying 100 passengers on charters versus the demo flights the Vulcan was doing? Also as you said Vulcan has a simpler generation in technology. Concorde of course was cutting edge or bleeding edge in the 1960s.

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
Some may remember that I could bore for Britain on this subject, but I will leave it there.

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You can 'bore' the rest all you like, I find it interesting. Do you think Concorde will fly again with this group? and do you think the restaurant plan will go through? - I do like that idea.

If she does fly I am guessing a trip may well be far more expensive than she would have been, like for like, back in the 80s/90s. My parents did one of the fly one way Concorde/sail the other way QE2 trips back in the early 80s, I have all the paperwork somewhere, but afaicr the bill was very reasonable, about £1100 or so each.

My mother had never flown before and enjoyed her flight on Concorde which was about 1.25 hours.

I took her up to the cockpit to get her flight certificate signed and also got mine done.

It was also possible to take pictures when we disembarked at Manchester, with the plane in the background, so I have some memorable pictures of that flight.

This flight was on the 13th November 1988 the day before my mother's 80th Birthday.