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The Vancouver Art Gallery is asking the federal government for $100 million for its proposed new building in downtown Vancouver.

The money would be for capital costs over the next three years for construction, said Ann Webb, the gallery’s associate director.

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“We’ve been working with the federal, provincial and municipal governments on this,” Webb said Friday.

“We remain optimistic that things are going forward. But I can’t be specific right now.”

The $100 million ask from Ottawa is for a new gallery on the lot across from the Queen Elizabeth Theatre at West Georgia and Cambie. The new gallery, designed by the Swiss architectural firm of Herzog & de Meuron, would have 7,989 sq. m. (86,000 sq. ft.) of exhibition space — double the size of the current gallery at 750 Hornby St.

Although the figure of $100 million for construction costs is contained in a 2017 pre-budget submission to the House of Commons standing committee on finance, Webb said the gallery didn’t expect to see the money mentioned in the recent federal budget.