The childhood home for the late baseball icon and Mobile native Hank Aaron will be relocated for the first time since 2009, and the plans are for it to settle at park south of the Mobile Civic Center’s property.

A spokesman with the city says the plan is to have the home moved from its location adjacent to Hank Aaron Stadium next to the McGowin shopping center to James Seals Park south of downtown Mobile.

Jason Johnson, a spokesman for Mayor Sandy Stimpson, said the relocation “may not be permanent,” but the home is moving to the park “temporarily.” He said the goal is to have it relocated by July.

A bid for the relocation was posted on the city’s website on March 29. Bids for the relocation project are set to be closed by April 12. The relocation project is being administered by the city’s Real Estate Asset Management department.

“The childhood home of Hank Aaron was entrusted to the City of Mobile, and ensuring it is preserved, protected and accessible to the public remains a high priority for us,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said in a statement to AL.com. “Working with representatives of the Aaron family, we explored several potential locations for the Hank Aaron home before selecting Seals Park. The house can be monitored and maintained by our staff in a location that is easily accessible to Mobilians and visitors who want to learn more about Hank Aaron’s lasting legacy.”

The long-term status of the house, converted into a museum honoring Aaron’s legacy and childhood growing up in Mobile, has been in limbo for about a year after the city of Mobile announced its lease on Hank Aaron Stadium as null and void, leaving the fate of the 27-year-old vacant ballpark in limbo. Nothing new has been announced for the empty stadium or its surrounding properties since last year.

The home, built in 1942, was relocated in 2008 from the city’s Toulminville neighborhood to outside the front entrance of Hank Aaron Stadium, which served as the minor league home for the Class AA-affiliate Mobile BayBears. It opened in 2010 as a museum and became part of a gameday experience for stadium visitors whenever the BayBears played its home games.

Some of the artifacts inside the Aaron home-turned museum have since been returned to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The Baseball Hall of Fame had the items removed after the BayBears ended their tenure in Mobile following the 2019 season. The BayBears played at Hank Aaron Stadium from 1997-2019, and the team was relocated to Madison and repackaged as the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

The home-turned-museum, while it was operating, hosted a trove of artifacts from the Aaron family and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Key moments during Aaron’s illustrious baseball career were on display, dating back to the days in which he played semi-professional baseball in Mobile and during a brief stint with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League.

While the museum was open, the voice of broadcast legend Milo Hamilton echoed throughout it with the call of Aaron’s 715th home run to break Babe Ruth’s record. Aaron, himself, was interviewed during an introductory video in which he talks about the challenges of growing up in segregated Mobile during the 1940s and 50s.