Society chairman Tony Butson was asked to comment this week following approval by the community services committee for a 33-year lease on the dilapidated council-owned site.
"We want to thank the council for seeing the way clear for entering into a lease for us," Mr Butson said.
The not-for-profit incorporated society had been battling to save the buildings from demolition since 2005.
The ambition was to restore the boat shed into a working maritime museum, the dual slipway to be used for boat restoration and sub-lease a new cafe, complete with outside seating, to make the complex self-sustaining.
The boat shed was built in the 1930s, while the former New Zealand Railways ticket office almost certainly dated back to between 1869 and 1878, which made it one of the few Queenstown buildings to survive from the era, the conservation plan reported.
About $465,000 had been raised to date for the project - $200,000 from the Central Lakes Trust, $200,000 from the Community Trust of Southland, $50,000 from the First Sovereign Trust and the remainder from members and fundraising efforts.
About $270,000 was still needed, Mr Butson said.
The six committee members and 60 society members hoped to hear the outcome of their latest funding application after June.
"If the funding can be arranged, we're hoping to start straight away. Our consents to redevelop it and establish a cafe are in. We're aiming to build it over six to eight months.
"It will be the only cafe on the waterfront at Frankton, at this stage. It's beside the Frankton walkway and it will be a facility for local boaties to be able to slip and maintain their craft."
The conservation plan detailed the previously known and unknown history of the site, plus the heritage value of the proposed restoration, Mr Butson said.
The plan, by Jackie Gillies and Associates, of Queenstown, noted the ticket office and modern two-storey extension, which was to be removed, were vacant and had been vandalised.
The plan supported restoration proposals as "an effective way to to safeguard the heritage significance of the buildings and site for the future."
