PORTAGE, MI -- Cove Lakeside Bistro will open today on West Lake in Portage.

The restaurant, at 9110 Portage Road on the eastern bank of West Lake, is a total conversion of space that was most recently used for offices into a modern eatery with a lakehouse feel.

Starting Monday, July 31, the bistro will serve lunch and dinner, opening at 11 a.m. Monday through Friday, and at noon Saturday and Sunday.

It is owned and operated by the Kalamazoo-based Millennium Restaurant Group.

The 7,000-square-foot eatery will seat up to 125 people in its main dining areas, 40 at an indoor bar area, and 96 on an outdoor patio. It also features a large bar area and an interior dining room that has views of West Lake.

Its kitchen will be led by Chef Kirk McKinney, the former executive chef of the Millennium Restaurant Group, and it will feature a coastal-inspired, seasonal menu -- with entrees that include chicken, lamb, salmon and steak.

McKinney was formerly executive chef for the restaurant group, serving as head chef at its Epic Bistro and Central City Tap House restaurants, from June of 2010 until June of 2012. Since then, he has worked in Hawaii and the Hamptons (Long Island, N.Y.), according to Kenneth Miller, principal partner and chief executive officer of the Millennium Restaurant Group.

Miller said the restaurant group was able to convince McKinney to make a return to the area by telling him about the new restaurant concept -- people dining in a familiar waterfront location.

"It's so unique from what we have done and so unique for the area," Miller said. "The sunsets are beautiful and there aren't that many (dining) places around here on the water."

He said opening the restaurant has been a three-year quest that got great cooperation from the city of Portage.

"They wanted us to come out here," Miller said. "And we wanted to come out here. So It's been kind of a partnership with the city and many other people. The West Lake Association and the Austin Lake Group have also been more than welcoming."

In the 1970s and 80s, the location was home to Jason's Cove restaurant and later was home to Charron's on The Lake. It was home to Mavcon construction company until earlier this year.

Miller said re-utilizing the space as a restaurant is "kind of going back to it's original heritage or genealogy."

"It just seemed right," he said. "It's intuitive. It was gut. ... This is really just a project of three years of love and excitement and I think it's right."

The restaurant becomes the 12th location for the Millennium Restaurant Group.