Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill said there had been delays in the as yet unnamed, roughly $600,000 Victorian-themed attraction, but he was pleased with the progress being made.
Entry-ways and plumbing for toilets were the last major hurdles to be completed by contractors on the project.
Tourism Waitaki issued a press release in September last year that stated the joint project between Tourism Waitaki and the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust would open mid-November last year.
However, yesterday Mr Gaskill said it was too early to provide a definite opening date, ''but we're definitely at the business end of it [preparing to open]''.
He said it was inappropriate to blame any one thing for the missed mid-November opening date of the colonial Oamaru era tourism attraction.
''It's not a matter of blame, it's just a matter of complexity,'' Mr Gaskill said. ''Particularly when you're dealing with historic buildings, there are some things that come up that require some very specific considerations and you couple that with a number of other factors - the fact that we were coming towards the end of the year, heading towards Christmas, and summer.
"Obviously, people were busy, there were a number of things that compounded things and led to some of the delays.''
In September 2015, Tourism Waitaki received $290,000 from the Government's contestable co-investment fund, the Tourism Growth Partnership, with the tourism body and trust combining to contribute another $290,000.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment website indicates the length of the funding requirement is two years and that the project was expected to generate a $1 million economic benefit to New Zealand by year five.
The project had changed from its original vision, but expectations were high for the attraction, Mr Gaskill said.
''Given ... that Oamaru is a growing point on the tourism map, we would anticipate that it would be popular - and that that popularity would grow reasonably quickly.''
Hours of operation had yet to be determined but that would affect staffing requirements.
