NEW(ISH) VIEW. The View on Lake Wissota is closed for extensive remodeling, including a new roof, a banquet hall, a wrap-around deck, and a 2,000-square-foot rooftop patio.

The View will be sporting a new and even more impressive view over Lake Wissota when it reopens (tentatively sometime this month).

Ower Rob Brown said his original plan was to redo just the roof of the rural Chippewa Falls bar and grill when he closed temporarily in March. However, after he had torn the roof off, he ran in to some complications and decided it was time to remodel the whole restaurant.

“If I’m going to rebuild, I’m going to build it bigger so I can do more stuff with it,” he said. “Now I’m going to have a banquet hall for weddings and special occasions and a much bigger bar.”

In addition, Brown said they are making a large deck to wrap around the front and back of the restaurant as well as a 2,000-square-foot rooftop patio.

The inspiration for this came from Brown’s own experience living in the Twin Cities. “I loved to go up into the bars downtown with rooftop patios,” he said. “I figured that was the perfect thing to put out here.”

The restaurant’s name implies guests will have nice scenery to look at, but Brown said the deck and patio will make it even more impressive. The patio itself will be about two stories up, and he expects people to be able to see for miles.

Aside from complications with the roof, Brown said the remodeling was necessary sooner or later because of the building’s age.

“It seemed like every day something would break or something would stop working, whether it’d be an electrical or mechanical issue,” he said. “It was built a long time ago, and I was worried about it all the time. This will give me some piece of mind.”

Because he just redid the menu in December, Brown said guests don’t have to worry about that changing. And though he’s still in the process, he already has people interested in booking the banquet hall for various occasions. “I imagine that’s going to pay off pretty well,” he said.

From the feedback he has heard, it sounds like customers don’t have much to complain about. “Everybody that I know is pretty positive about it, everybody’s pretty happy,” he said. “I know people don’t like me being shut down, but I imagine when we reopen it’ll be pretty crazy.”

For updates on remodeling at The View, visit www.facebook.com/wissota.view.5