POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – Sitting on the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and 18th Avenue, the nearly 100-year-old home of Bob McNab was one of the first homes built in Pompano Beach in 1924.
The historic McNab House will soon be relocated to its new home in McNab Park.
It's a huge job that's going to require streets to be shut down.
“It was also believed to be the first home that had electricity, so in 1926 when they turned the house on, when they turned the electricity on, they actually had a celebration on the dirt road in front of the home,” Pompano Beach Commissioner Tom McMahon said.
Now owned by the city of Pompano Beach, the historic brick home will be preserved and moved to McNab Park, about five blocks down from where it currently sits.
But how exactly do you move 452-ton home?
“The house will be lowered from the cribs onto the dollies and pulled by this front-end loader over here,” CRA Director Nguyen Tran told Local 10 News.
The CRA said the move will cost about $400,000.
“It’s going to be traveling down the median -- right over the median, so the electric will be taken down, the lights will be taken down, trees will be temporarily taken down and the house will move at 2 mph down the median east on Atlantic Boulevard,” Pompano Beach spokeswoman Sandra King said. “What will happen is the traffic will be diverted as the house is moving. When we get to Federal Highway, they’ll temporarily shut that down for a short period of time as we cross Federal Highway, but clearly 2 mph isn’t that fast.”
“It’s supposed to start at 7 in the morning to move five blocks. The mover estimates about five hours, so by noon,” Tran said.
The city is preparing a viewing as many people are expected to gather to watch this feat.
McMahon said the McNab House is going to be turned into a restaurant.