Newcastle City Council signed a 50-year lease with a consortium backed by prominent Newcastle developer Keith Stronach and 17 community members.

The consortium's new company, Merewether Beach Pty Ltd, has 90 days to lodge development applications for Surf House's demolition and the new building.

Mr Stronach said the proposal included a promenade, cafe, surf life saving museum, takeaway outlet, and toilet and shower block, all on the ground floor.

The first floor will contain a function room, available to community groups for 10 hours a week and otherwise for commercial hire, an outdoor terrace and veranda.

A restaurant and bar with an outdoor balcony will fill the building's top level.

Mr Stronach said the site presented a fantastic development opportunity.

"It's absolutely iconic," he said. "If you think what's right up and down the coast there are very few examples of things right up and down the beach.

"It [the new surf house] should be used very heavily by all members of the public."

Yesterday's deal was a welcome milestone in Surf House's troubled history.

The 70-year-old building was damaged in the 1989 earthquake and has been closed, declared unsafe, since 1995.

Its decaying condition is of public concern and many consider the council's failure to do something with the building as a regional embarrassment.

Cr Helene O'Neill, who has long called for action on the site, said yesterday's deal was welcome news.

Lord Mayor John Tate said that after much toing and froing, the lease deal and proposed development was a good result.

He declined to comment on the council's potential financial return.

Some, including Greens councillors, had called for the building to be saved, but Mr Stronach said the building had outlived its useful life.

"It's just not viable to repair it," he said.