By Trey Mewes, Austin Daily Herald

AUSTIN — The Spam Museum will be closed for more than a year while plans for its new location move forward.

A Hormel Foods Corp. spokesman confirmed the Spam Museum will close on Sept. 28 in advance of a planned relocation to downtown Austin. Hormel announced last week it will build a new museum at North Main Street between Second and Fourth avenues, at the downtown fire site as well as the adjacent Plaza Bar/Ciola’s building.

Hormel will likely begin construction late this year or the beginning of next year, with a groundbreaking set in November or December. The company will use at least part of the space at the current museum to expand its corporate south office, which is next to the Spam Museum.

If all goes well, the new Spam Museum will open in the spring of 2016 in time for Hormel’s 125th anniversary.

No plans are set for the new building, though Hormel President and CEO Jeff Ettinger said last week that Hormel is working to get a final design ready. The new building could be about 13,500 square feet in size according to Ettinger, which is slightly less than the 16,500 square feet at the museum’s current location. Several of the museum’s exhibits — including the museum’s historical exhibits — likely will go into the new location, along with several new exhibits. Hormel will also work with the city of Austin to bring more parking to the downtown area rather than build a giant parking lot near the new museum.