World Bar marketing manager Chris Barnhart said it was hoped the bar would be open for the 2014 Winter Festival, but first a new building must be designed and constructed.
''What we are hoping to do is keep that same World Bar spirit but with some newer elements.''
''I think it's going to surprise people in a good way. We really want to make something that's as iconic as the last one. The old building stood out so much as an institution of the town [and] we want to do something to reflect that.''
He said World Bar staff were fully involved in helping plan the new building, which was being designed by Michael Wyatt Architect Ltd. In May, the World Bar, which had been a part of Queenstown for 17 years, was destroyed by a fire that began in the Fat Badgers Pizza restaurant downstairs and spread upstairs to the bar.
Firefighters from Queenstown, Frankton and Arrowtown initially responded to the blaze which also destroyed the restaurant, but help from stations as far as Invercargill and Alexandra was required to control the blaze.
The main shell of the building remained until this week's demolition. What passers-by see now is a demolition site - complete with stairs to nowhere.
The building's owner, Dave Boyd, did not return calls to the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
