Queen Mary plan is floated

Robert Sides III is president and chief executive of the Queen’s Project, an organization that is soliciting funds for a proposal that could cost as much as $1.5 billion to return the Queen Mary to the high seas.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A visitor walks past a large photograph of Liberace aboard the legendary ocean liner. The entertainer made a transatlantic crossing aboard the ship during its heyday, long before it was docked at Long Beach Harbor as a floating hotel and tourist attraction.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Intricate woodwork lines the walls of the luxury liner, which features an on-board hotel, restaurants and exhibits. The city bought the Queen Mary in 1967 from Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd. But the ship and roughly 45 acres of contiguous, undeveloped oceanfront surrounding it are controlled by New York-based Garrison Investment Group under a 66-year lease agreement.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors walk past the ship’s bell on the Promenade Deck. Among the hurdles of making the Queen Mary seaworthy again is an agreement between Long Beach and Cunard prohibiting the ship from being used for trade at sea or as a commercial cruise line, according to a deputy city attorney.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors walk past a portrait of Queen Mary, which hangs in the grand stairwell of the ocean liner that bears her name. Some Long Beach officials consider the floating tourist attraction a questionable city asset.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Shops on the Promenade Deck hearken back to the golden age of travel at sea. City-sponsored surveys of the ship’s condition found it to be in disrepair, with serious corrosion to hull plating, rivets and structures.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)