The future of the buildings, at 372 to 392 Princes St, and 11 Stafford St, will be decided at a Dunedin City Council resource consent hearing on August 11.
Council planner Lianne Darby has changed her original position on the issue, and advised consent to demolish be granted, saying saving the facades would be "prohibitively costly".
Last year, she said consent should be declined, citing the heritage value of the facades.
Christchurch developer Luke Dirkzwager's company Prista Apartments wants to demolish buildings and replace them with a five-storey building with 15 apartments, three of which would be penthouses, plus retail space on the ground floor.
The plans met strong opposition last year, with a petition signed by 260 people and vigorous opposition from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
Resource consent hearings in December were adjourned, and the matter was put on hold until a heritage and structure report had been produced.
A report to the hearing from Ms Darby said a heritage report prepared for the applicant by Angela Middleton had noted some the buildings dated back to the 1860s, had social significance, and that one was designed by an "architect of some renown", William Mason.
But the facades had been badly compromised, did not exhibit any particular technical significance, and were listed as dangerous and earthquake-prone.
Ms Middleton suggested the historic fabric of the sites be thoroughly recorded before demolition of the buildings.
A report by Hall Bros' Doug Hall noted strengthening the building would far exceed the cost of rebuilding it.
Building the development behind the facades would cost $6.3 million, while demolishing and building would cost $3.9 million, Ms Darby calculated from reports.
Mr Dirkzwager said yesterday he had done his homework on the building "from day one", when the building was bought two years ago.
He had considered retaining the facades, but people did not realise how bad they were, he said.
Dunedin historian Peter Entwisle, who researched the history of the buildings, said Ms Darby was accepting the developer's figures, and he thought other reports should be done.
"There's a very strong feeling these buildings should be preserved, and on the face of it, the city is flying in the face of its own district plan."
