Comwell's Historic Precinct has received a huge boost in the form of a $900,000 grant from the Central Lakes Trust.
The money will be used to restore Wisharts Smithy, rebuild the Globe Hotel and the Old Post Office, and to create a new village green.
The two-storeyed Wishart's building is derelict on the upper level of the Old Cromwell Town Precinct. It measures about 10m by 10m.
It will be restored to a New Zealand Historic Places Trust category two level.
The Globe Hotel, which was actually a boarding house, will be completely rebuilt on its original site on the lower level next to Wisharts. The Red Barn on the upper level will be moved to the other side of Wisharts. The old stone post office had been pulled down many years ago and will be completely rebuilt.
The Village Green will be established along the foreshore.
Manager of Old Cromwell Town Elisabeth Williamson said the continuing restoration work would ensure the preservation of the Cromwell heritage for future generations to enjoy.
She said there was a lot of work to do gaining resource consents, although the consent for the restoration of Wisharts had already been signed off, so work would start on that part of the restoration almost immediately.
Old Cromwell Town had also received a grant of $90,000 from the Lotteries Commission and has an application with the Community Trust of Otago. The results of that should be known within a couple of days, Mrs Williamson said.
The Old Cromwell Town grant was the largest from a total of $1,538,388 in the latest round from Central Lakes Trust.
The region's youth also benefited, with a total of $185,000 granted to support the seven youth trusts.
Other major grants approved including $72,000 to support the Otago Regional Council with their clean heat/clean air project in the Central Lakes Trust region, $60,000 to Southern Lakes Festival of Colour and $50,000 to Sport Central to service the sport and recreational needs of
the region.
Grants approved for the last quarter were:
Millers Flat Bakehouse $120,000, Destination Queenstown $20,000, Alexandra Pipe Band $8000, Central Otago Budgeting Service $10,000, Upper Clutha Historical Records Society $8000, Alexandra Council of Social Services $22,500, Queenstown Shakespeare Trust $2588, DARE Alexandra $6500, Central and Southern Autism Support Group $17,800, Southern Opera Charitable Trust $5000, Lions Club of Alexandra $15,000, Old Cromwell $900,000, Christchurch Symphony Trust $30,000, Alexandra Community Youth Trust $25,000, Alexandra Combined Churches Youth Trust, $25,000, Cromwell Youth Worker Trust $25,000, Kahu Youth Trust $30,000, Queenstown Life trust $25,000, Wakatipu District Youth Trust $30,000, Teviot Valley Community Christian Trust $25,000, Southern Lakes Arts Festival Trust $60,000, Sport Otago $50,000, Otago Regional Council $72,000 and CLT Tertiary Scholarships $6000.
