STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Fla. will build three new Staten Island Ferry boats over the next two or three years.

The city Department of Transportation gave the company a "notice to proceed" with the construction after Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group designed the three new vessels, which will be phased into service between 2019 and 2020.

While some $314 million in federal, state and city money was amassed to build the boats, they will only cost $250 million. The DOT will decide how to use the remaining $64 million.

Modeled after the John F. Kennedy boat, popular for its open-air features like outdoor promenades and extended foredecks, the three ferries will each hold 4,500 people.

The Kennedy, Andrew J. Barberi and the Samuel I. Newhouse boats will be retired when the three brand new, storm-resilient vessels are put in service.

The first of the three new ships will be named after the late Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, a New Dorp native who died at age 24 while saving a Polish soldier in Afghanistan.

Some Staten Islanders want to name one of the other boats after the late Det. Russel Timoshenko, a 23-year-old Bay Terrace resident who was shot and killed after pulling over a stolen car in Brooklyn in 2007.

Others, led by Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore), who started a petition in February, are pushing to name one of the new ferries after the historic Sandy Ground community settled by freed slaves in Rossville.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has said Staten Islanders will decide what to name the remaining two ferries.

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