The Campbell Park estate at Otekaieke could be turned into a 27ha sports academy, conference and accommodation centre.
NZHouseChina, an Auckland company with strong links to China, bought the property in February.
Its general manager, Rene Bros, said the company had a "million ideas'' for the development of the site.
"We're just literally in that negotiation spot right at the moment, from hosting events to creating a tourist stopover.
"We're quite involved in soccer in China and in Holland. We're currently looking at a sports academy.''
Mr Bros said the long term plan for the site was to return it to its original from as long as it was viable to do so.
The company took possession of the property on April 1.
Mr Bros said a team of workers was going through all 108 buildings on the site to see what could be saved and what needed to be taken down.
"The first job we're doing is going through every building and reviewing what each needs. [There are] up to 300 dormitory beds, but only 100 of them are usable at the moment.
"There's quite a lot of work to be done.''
He said the company had no idea what sort of income the facility would generate for the Waitaki district.
Mr Bros said the site was currently run by a skeleton staff, but employee numbers were expected to grow once the future of the site was finalised.
It was too early to say when the site would reopen to the public, he said.
The estate was an educational facility from 1908-87.
In 1988, the Ministry of Education closed the special school for boys being run on the site and American Charles Tompkins and son Nathan bought the estate.
In 2008 and then in 2011, the estate was put on the market, but did not sell until this year.
