ROCKLAND — In August, the Rockland Planning Board will consider plans submitted by the Dowling-Walsh Gallery to construct a 40,000 square foot, five-story art management gallery at 12 Winter Street. The building is to be known as the Starfire.

The Gallery, which already occupies space at 357 Main Street, intends to construct a new building on two adjacent parcels of land at 8 and 12 Winter Street, just behind the current establishment. The purpose of the new building will be to provide high-end storage for art in a climate- and light-controlled setting, according to Audra Caler Bell, Community Development Director for the City of Rockland.

The first floor of the proposed building would provide a retail-store front for the gallery. The middle floors would be storage, and a top floor would be used for offices. Because the building won’t have windows where the art is stored, the exterior façade will be of reflective glass, Bell said.

Cost of the project is estimated at $3 million, and construction would take place between March 2016 and March 2017. 

A+R Architecture company is the design firm.