Work is expected to begin this summer on a $4 million overhaul of the Gino’s Surf banquet center in Harrison Township that has sat vacant for a decade, company officials said this week.

Restoring the banquet facility — to be known as Vista Lago — to its former level of stylishness marks the second phase of construction for the Gino’s campus. Last year, the owners opened a refurbished bar and restaurant spot under the Gino’s Surf name.

The township’s Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance Tuesday that will allow the owners to begin rebuilding the iconic site in July. Construction is planned to wrap up in about 10 months, officials said.

A group of investors known as the Paradise Group, headed by Isam Sami, received the ZBA approval after seeking a variance that allows them to reconstruct the building on its existing footprint.

The 12,750-square-foot building on Jefferson Avenue north of Crocker Boulevard, will have higher ceiling levels, seating for about 300 people, and expansive views of Lake St. Clair.

Brian Howard of HF: Architecture in Royal Oak told ZBA members he wanted to capitalize on the center’s waterfront location. He said the entrance to the building will be designed “so that when you walk in the front door, the first thing you will see is the lake.”

Howard said Vista Lago will be rebuilt to include 19-foot-tall ceilings, about nine feet higher than the existing ceiling. Plans call for a new restaurant, new roof, one or two banquet rooms with folding doors, and an outdoor patio overlooking the water.

The existing water fountain in front of the building will be removed in order to accommodate a new canopy.

David Bratto, a Harrison Township trustee who serves on the ZBA board, said he’s impressed by the group’s plans.

“I think it looks very nice,” Bratto said Friday. “If you remember, the old Gino’s had very low ceilings. That’s not the type of wedding hall that people want in today’s climate. They will be putting in higher ceiling, more on the level of something like Palazzo Grande in Shelby Township.”

Gino’s has been the site of memories of graduations, wedding receptions and other good times for scores of generations of Macomb County residents.

Gino’s former owners closed the venue in 2015 amid financial and physical problems. Paradise Group moved in a few years later to initiate a lengthy and snazzy update of the bar/restaurant area.

“This will on the same caliber as Gino’s Surf,” Howard said, referring the adjoining bar and dining area that opened to the public at the end of last summer.

Howard said since its closure a decade ago, the building has “obviously been in disrepair,” with birds flying indoors through the venue’s numerous broken windows.

The ZBA granted a variance is to allow for the renovation of the existing single-story banquet facility. Gino’s officials said the hardship or difficulty is the current location of the existing building, which doesn’t meet the rear or side setback requirements as stated by the zoning ordinance.

There was an inquiry by an attorney representing a resident to the facility’s immediate south who expressed concern that the higher ceiling would result in event-goers being able to look out on to his client’s property.

Bloomfield Hills-based attorney Paul DePorres asked for a privacy fence between the two properties.

Paradise Group officials said they would be willing to consider erection of a fence. ZBA member Robert Leonetti urged the two sides to speak after the meeting to work out an agreement.

Also still to be worked out is the dredging of the Lake St. Clair bay to build a series of boat slips, which will make Gino’s Surf available to sailors and landlubbers alike. That also is expected to be done this year or next.