Officials with Vicksburg Hotel LLC, owner of the Portofino Hotel on Mulberry Street, expect in early February to announce their plans for the hotel, which has been closed since July 2015.

“Three weekends from now, we’ll announce what it’s going to be,” said company representative Greg Stewart. “There’s been a lot of work going on the property; it’s just happening inside. The final building plans, we expect this week, and we will be applying for formal building permits.”

He would not discuss the company’s preliminary plans, but added, “ It’s not going to be a casino, I’ll tell you that.”

Portofino closed its doors July 21, 2015, and has not reopened.

At the time, the closing affected 33 events planned for the Vicksburg Convention Center, forcing convention center officials to work with event planners to book new hotels for the participants.

When he announced the hotel’s closure, Stewart said he expected it to be closed for about seven months while renovations and repairs were performed on the building.

About a year later, no visible work had been done on the property and the hotel remained locked, causing some speculation it was up for sale.

In July 2016, William Little, a Gulfport attorney who represents Stewart and Vicksburg Hotel LLC, said the property was not for sale. He said, however, a lawsuit concerning Vicksburg Hotel LLC’s title to the property, and had stalled development of the property.

The suit challenging Vicksburg Hotel’s title on the property was filed August 2014 in Dallas County Circuit Court by a company called B.O.S. Consulting LLC.

The suit was dismissed in July 2016 with prejudice, according to court records, meaning BOSC could not re-file the suit. The reason for the dismissal was not given in the records.

Vicksburg Hotel in September 2015 filed suit in Warren County Chancery Court against BOSC, M Street and Great Southern, the former hotel owner, in connection with the Dallas suit. That suit remains active.

On May 6, 2016, Portofino LLC, a company interested in buying the hotel that bears its name, sued Vicksburg Hotel in Warren County Circuit Court for $500,000 it claimed it was due because the company decided not to buy the building. The suit was transferred in June 2016 to Harrison County Circuit Court. Stewart said that suit has been settled.

“It took a long time and a lot of money to clear all that up,” he said,

Harrah’s Casino operated at the site of the Portofino from 1993 until 2003, when it sold its Vicksburg property to Columbia Sussex.

The names on the casino and hotel changed to Horizon until the fall 2010, when Tropicana Entertainment, which was part of Columbia Sussex and operated Horizon, went bankrupt and closed the casino.

In 2011, the venue reopened as Grand Station, but closed in March 2012 amid bankruptcy.

From 1993 until the Grand Station bankruptcy, the casino was located on a barge built to look like a riverboat that was moored in the Yazoo Diversion Canal next to the hotel and surrounded by a cofferdam.

The former casino vessel was auctioned for scrap metal in April 2013 and hauled away.