Colin Jost Jokes That Buying a Staten Island Ferry Was the 'Dumbest' Purchase He 'Ever Made' (Exclusive)

Jost and Pete Davidson bought a decommissioned ferry in 2022 for $280,000

It's hard to say whether or not Colin Jost has any regrets about buying a Staten Island Ferry in 2022.

The Saturday Night Live star teamed up with fellow comedian Pete Davidson to purchase the decommissioned ferry for $280,000, according to The New York Times, two years ago, but he tells PEOPLE that for a "conservative" spender, it was not his smartest move.

"It is absolutely the dumbest and least thought-through purchase I've ever made in my life," Jost told PEOPLE at the Tommy Hilfiger show during New York Fashion Week, which was held on board Jost and Davidson's ferry. "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."

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In the two years since Jost and Davidson bought the ferry, though, it hasn't done a whole lot, and Jost can admit that. While the team working on it has done some renovations, it still looks like a Staten Island Ferry.

But that's because he and Davidson, as well as their co-investor The Stand comedy club owner Paul Italia, all have full-time jobs on land, he noted, so they're not devoting as much time as he might like to getting the ferry up and running as an entertainment venue, which is one idea the team has for it.

Jost also said it's possible that the ferry could still end up functional as a boat — it would just require a staff to run it, and he's not sure that's something he wants to worry about. And as much as he might like to just take the ferry out on the water himself, he actually can't.

Related: Pete Davidson Gives Update on Ferry Purchased with Colin Jost and Jokes It's Now Their 'Lifelong Problem'

Related: Colin Jost Says He Was 'Stone-Cold Sober' When He Bought Ferry with Pete Davidson

"I'm sure our insurance company would love it," he joked. "Maybe they would love it because it would get them out of the contract. But it requires a lot of people to move it."

At this point, the ferry has to be docked or towed, because the engines aren't operable, but Jost said it could be operable "within weeks" if they wanted it to be. The team just thinks it makes more sense to dock it as a venue and use it like the Tommy Hilfiger team did for the fashion show.

One of Jost and Davidson's partners in the project, architect Ron Castellano, told Curbed in March that the plan is to turn the ferry into a venue with hotel rooms, restaurants and bars that could find a home in Miami.

Related: Pete Davidson Shares His Plans for the Staten Island Ferry He Bought with 'SNL' Costar Colin Jost

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Jost told PEOPLE that Miami is certainly an option but he selfishly wants his ferry to stay in New York.

"Being on the water in New York is very special," the Staten Island native 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."

As for how Jost's wife, Scarlett Johansson, has felt about his investment over the past two years? Jost said he "soft-floated" the idea past her before buying the ferry ... and she didn't believe him. But after he made the purchase, he said she eventually got on board.

"She was just like, 'Wait, so you own this boat now?' Very fair question," Jost said of Johansson's reaction. "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."

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