Following the 5.8-magnitude earthquake near Wanaka on May 4, the council-owned hall was closed to the public pending an engineer's report.
The building was inspected and subsequently reopened after the engineer reported it suffered ''only minor damage'' and had ''not been measurably weakened'' by the quake.
After the quake, three cracks in the plaster, following brickwork patterns, could be seen on an exterior wall of the building - one from a window to the roof and two from the bottom of the same window.
Council planning and development manager Marc Bretherton said the cracks ''might have been'' caused by the earthquake, but reiterated they were minor.
The hall was originally built in 1870, with significant alterations in 1991.
In February the council reduced the capacity of the hall to 300 - an ''Importance Level [IL] 2'' building - from 500, an IL 3 building, so it did not hit the earthquake-prone threshold under the Building Act.
The temporary capacity reduction followed an assessment by Holmes Consulting Group of all the council's public buildings.
Under the Building Act the capacity of a building has an influence on its earthquake rating, and with a capacity of 500 it would be considered earthquake-prone.
The Holmes report on the hall recommended the council strengthen it to above 67% of the current building code.
However, that would involve ''significantly more work than the [above] 33%''.
''The option of reclassifying the building to IL 2 may create a more cost-effective solution to the 67% approach,'' the report said.
Since then, further assessments had been done to consider strengthening work, possibly to include additional bracing, wall connection upgrades and minor concrete strengthening.
Mr Bretherton said structural design plans had recently been received by the council, with a proposal to carry out earthquake strengthening to bring the hall ''up to code'', enabling it to continue operating as an IL 3 building.
''There are two options ... depending to what extent of IL 3 the structural fixes look to accommodate. If we meet the minimum level to achieve IL 3, which is 34% of code, the budget is anticipated to be $280,000.
''If we look at 67% of code, the budget is anticipated to be around $490,000.
''That's a decision for councillors but ... it is the Holmes [Consulting Group] recommendation [to strengthen to 67%].
''The council's obligation ... is to comply with the law and comply with nationally recognised standards as they apply to earthquake-prone buildings, so that's essentially what the council has done in restricting the capacity in the Athenaeum Hall over the last couple of months.
''Compliance with what our legal obligations are, and the duty of care that's owed to the community generally, that's the key consideration from council's perspective.''
The budget had been signalled to the council as part of its deliberations on the long term plan later this month.
Mr Bretherton anticipated the work would be carried out in the next financial year.
Submissions to the draft long term plan closed last month and will be heard in Queenstown on May 25 and in Wanaka on May 26.
