International and national exhibitions will be hosted on a regular basis and more than 200 works valued at $5 million and owned by Albury Council will go on permanent display with the upgrade.

Gallery spaces will increase from three to eight by linking the art gallery and Burrows House next door.

Visitor numbers to the new gallery are predicted to jump from 35,000 to 80,000 per year.

A restaurant-cafe will be built at the rear of the existing gallery with seating for 120 people including half outdoors fronting QEII Square.

An area dedicated to young local artists will be created and retail space will be doubled.

Council community and cultural director James Jenkins said the new art gallery would be a “must-see” national attraction.

“Australia’s must visit cultural destination might sound like a high aim, but that is certainly where we are setting the bar,” he said.

“If people said ‘would you expect to triple the number of people coming to your museum before we built the library-museum?’ But that has been achieved.

“In its current form there are limitations in every possible way.

“There is no storage, there are climatic controls we need, we can’t have displays that require loads on the floor.

“There is a set of criteria to host exhibitions and some we can meet, but a lot we can’t.”

The council lodged a development application for the art gallery upgrade yesterday and is actively seeking funding of $3.5 million from the federal and state governments to match the $3.5 million already committed by Albury Council.

The success of the federal government funding application will be known in May and lobbying of the NSW government continues.

The council has not ruled out taking out further loans to bankroll the project.

Sydney’s Brewster Hjorth Architects has come up with the design.

As the gallery owners, the council will appoint an independent planning consultant to assess the application.

The joint regional planning committee will need to give the final approval because the project is more than $10 million.

“We believe the library-museum has had a positive impact on not only architecture, but also the business community,” Mr Jenkins said.

“The art gallery holds that same opportunity.”