An arts colony first imagined a decade ago for Milford’s Walnut Beach area has gotten a $1 million infusion to speed design and engineering work for improvements to a budding complex at the city-owned Stowe Farm site.

Plans call for a barn on the site to be converted into offices for the Milford Fine Arts Council, as well as gallery space, classrooms and a small performance space, said Economic and Community Development Director Robert Gregory.

First acquired five years ago, the site already is occupied by a couple who converted a horse barn into a studio after buying it from the city.

Gregory said as much as $7 million may eventually be invested in the arts colony, mostly from state and federal funds. The recent infusion came from the state. A small portion of the money will help pay to extend a boardwalk to Walnut Beach from nearby Silver Sands State Park.

Creating an arts district in the area was first proposed in 1997by resident Joseph Garbus, who later became an alderman and chairman of the Walnut Beach Neighborhood Association.