The new Fremantle Ferris wheel will have a wine-and-dine VIP gondola and increased space for sightseers.
Fremantle council agreed to the improvements when it approved a 10-year lease with Westshell Wheels, which will pay the city an annual rent of $57,200.
The agreement also offers one further term of five years for the operator.
Westshell Wheels director Greg Webster said he hoped to have the new wheel operating by early September.
He said the new gondolas included 360-degree viewing and were disability accessible. The VIP gondola will offer wining and dining in the sky.
“We’re excited to bring a new Ferris wheel to Fremantle,” Mr Webster said.
“The VIP gondola has VIP function so (it has) the capability of having tables and luxe experiences.
“So leather cushioning, tables and an opportunity for wining and dining.”
The long-term deal marks the first lease signed for Westshell Wheels since it entered an initial three-year licence in 2013. Since then, the wheel — and the deal — has remained in a holdover period.
A City of Fremantle officer’s report said the attraction had become a tourism product “synonymous with Fremantle”, with the wheel featuring in major marketing campaigns and hosting international and intrastate visitors.
Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge welcomed the return of the wheel.
“It’s almost symptomatic in a good way of the kind of general sentiment in Fremantle of taking something that might have been a bit old and worn down and breathing new life into it,” she said.
The new agreement will see the city enter into a lease instead of its previous licence and fixed fencing installed around the attraction.
The current wheel has already been dismantled to make way for the new one and its upgrades, including two extra gondolas — one of which is fit out for VIP guests — LED lighting, souvenir ride photos and improved safety features.
The 35m high, 100 tonne new wheel will also be made to withstand cyclones and include greater high wind speed safety than the previous structure.
Cr Frank Mofflin said the wheel had become an “iconic part” of Fremantle’s Esplanade Park.