YOUNGSTOWN — Cassese’s MVR restaurant is planning to spend about $500,000 to expand and enclose its bocce courts to allow people to play the game year-round.

The city’s design review committee approved the proposal Tuesday. Work is to start shortly and be finished by March, said Joe Cassese, owner of the iconic local restaurant in the city’s Smoky Hollow neighborhood.

During the restaurant’s 94 years in business at 410 N. Walnut St., “what we’ve figured out is ways to adapt and survive,” Cassese said.

The business thrives in particular because of its bocce ball games that on summer league nights with 86 teams usually attracts 200 to 250 people, he said.

There’s a covering over the courts, but soon they’ll be enclosed to allow bocce to be played all year long, Cassese said.

When it’s warm, the business can open the enclosure’s windows and large garage-style door and when it’s cold, the courts will be fully closed and heated, he said.

Also, the MVR is going to add a fifth bocce court, he said.

“We end our summer league in mid-September and asked, ‘What can we do for the longevity of the business?'” Cassese said. “With this work, we’ll be able to have a winter bocce league. We need to make changes to keep business strong.”

Being able to open the windows and large door will allow the restaurant to “not lose the summer appeal and open air,” he said.

Cassese said: “You don’t need to be good at bocce, but you need to be good at holding a beverage in one hand and a ball in the other.”

Hunter Morrison, the city’s planning consultant who ran the committee’s meeting, said: “This is a significant investment.”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, who has the MVR in his ward, said to Cassese: “You are setting an example for other bars and restaurants in Youngstown. MVR remains a staple in Youngstown.”