The auction of Deep Thought – the boat that washed up on Milwaukee’s shoreline in October of last year – is over. It ended today at 12:06 p.m. with the boat sold for $2,525. And the new owner, in a surprise, is also the owner of the business that pulled it out of the lakebed near McKinley Marina this spring.
The winner of the auction, Milwaukee Record reports, is Jeff Piller of All-City Towing, which successfully towed Deep Thought (aka the Milwaukee Minnow) to All-City’s lot on Milwaukee’s South Side back in May. He said he was interested in partnering with charities or bars who may want keepsake or decorative pieces of the boat.
The abandoned boat became a spectacle on the city’s waterfront over winter, often drawing visitors who watched the boat deteriorate into a graffitied eyesore, depending on the eye of the beholder. Before All-City’s heavy-machinery effort in May, several attempts to remove the Criss-Craft Roamer were thwarted; the boat’s stern was embedded deep in the mud.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Hoping to recoup costs, Milwaukee County put the boat up for auction on July 22. After a flurry of early bids on the GovDeals.com auction, the action ground to a halt at $1,100 at the end of the first day. Only Tuesday did the bids really ramp up, with a back-and-forth between Piller and an unknown bidder. There were 45 total bids, and more than 15,000 visitors to the page.
The county was hoping to get $20,000 for it to cover its net costs of removing it. The removal and towing process cost the county $50,000, and two donors contributed $30,000 to assist with the removal. Those hopes were quickly crushed as it became clear that enthusiasm over the spectacle was limited; the final sale covered only 13% of the county’s remaining cost. Taxpayers will now be forced to cover the remaining cost of $17,475.
Milwaukee County Sup. Sheldon Wasserman had hoped that someone could find a creative way to retain its glory and capitalize on the (at least onetime) interest in Deep Thought. In the interest of driving interest in the unfloatable craft, he floated a few ideas: an art installation, a “boutique bar,” or perhaps “Milwaukee’s strangest Airbnb.”
We’ll see what Piller has in store for it.
