The Arrowtown Trust sought consent from the Queenstown Lakes District Council to house a cafe and art gallery in Romans Cottage and for Adams Cottage to become professional offices.
There would be little change to the Buckingham St facade as physical alterations to the cottages were not proposed and Granny Jones Cottage would continue to be used commercially.
Up to 40 indoor and outdoor cafe patrons were permitted.
The trust wanted to landscape all three properties and create a garden with seating and walkways for the cafe and small-scale community market days.
Landscaping would involve selectively removing non-historical trees and shrubs and planting new vegetation to make the entry to Romans Cottage clearer and to create the garden.
Trust chairman David Clarke said it was a good result when asked for comment on commissioners Christine Kelly and Andrew Henderson's consent approval with conditions this week.
Concerns over cafe deliveries and retaining Merioneth St's residential feel had been allayed by the conditions, he said.
Trustees were pleased the consent did not require a car park to be provided as it would have compromised the historical character of the site and used up valuable recreation space.
"The next step is we put out adverts for expressions of interest [for tenants] next week with a cut-off date of October 30," Mr Clarke said.
"We're now preparing a consent for the Millers Flat Church. We'll be talking to neighbours once again and we'll lodge that application next month."
It was proposed the 138-year-old Millers Flat Church be moved from St John's Presbyterian Church grounds to a site behind Adams Cottage.
It would become part of the historic precinct and was likely to be tenanted as well in the future.
Conditions on the adaptive uses of the cottages outlined day and night-time noise limits and asked the trust to lodge a traffic management plan before tenants moved in.
The plan would stipulate there be no staff car parking on Merioneth St and patrons would be discouraged from parking on that street.
Infrequent goods and service access for Granny Jones and Adams cottages would be via Buckingham St wherever possible, but Romans Lane could be used Monday to Saturday between 10am and 5pm, if needed.
Goods and service deliveries to Romans Cottage would be by Merioneth St if they were not possible from Buckingham St. The Merioneth St access would be signposted for deliveries only and prohibit car parking.
The Merioneth St frontage of Romans Cottage would continue to look generally residential.
There would not be outdoor cafe seating within 5m of the Merioneth St boundary.
Signage up to 0.5sq m on the Merioneth St side of the building was allowed, but a permit would be required from the council before installation.
In their decision, the commissioners stated it was important that " the New Zealand Historic Places Trust has confirmed that it has no difficulties with the application and overall we are satisfied that there will be no adverse effects on the heritage values associated with the cottages".
