SS United States could move to Florida, turned into artificial reef

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In keeping with the Sept. 12 court-imposed eviction from its pier in South Philadelphia , the SS United States very well may be sunk off the Okaloosa County, Fla. coast as part of an artificial reef, CBS News Philadelphia has learned.

The county's board of commissioners is expected to take up the matter at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, according to sources, as well as public meeting agendas and briefing documents.

A spokesperson for the SS United States Conservancy said a short time ago by phone that the organization has had conversations with a handful of Florida counties because of the court's deadline for the ship to leave Pier 82.

That deadline, sources say, has left the conservancy furiously trying to locate a temporary or permanent pier after the court declined to allow the historic ocean liner to remain longer at Pier 82.

Sources say sinking the ship, once properly converted and meets stringent environmental regulations, is an alternative to outright scrapping the vessel.

The SS United States Conservancy declined to comment further on the matter. Sources cautioned a number of contingencies remain unresolved and that sinking the ship is not a "done deal."

For decades, the ship has loomed large along the South Philadelphia horizon, just north of the Walt Whitman Bridge and towering over a nearby Ikea parking lot.

There were grand plans for a "reimagined" SS United States. Still, time has been running out for the vessel after Penn Warehousing, the owner of Pier 82, filed a federal lawsuit seeking a significant rent increase . While the judge denied the increase, a mandatory eviction date was set for the ship, which is now less than two weeks away.

Moving the ship is expected to be an intensive process, with coordination between the port, the U.S. Coast Guard and Delaware River tides.