MONA founder David Walsh has unveiled plans to expand Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art's gallery with a new hotel development, the 172-room HOMO (HOtel at MOna). The development will include a day spa, library, state-of-the-art conference facilities, multi-purpose theatre, retail spaces, and an outdoor concert stage, bar, new jetties for the fleet of motoscafi ferries, and lawn area. It is expected to cost $300 million.

The hotel, which has been designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, will jut out into the Derwent River, the same colour as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and is slated to open on MONA's 11th anniversary in January 2022.

Opposing the original museum's design, the building is set to stand out visually in a way the original museum doesn't. "In the case of the museum, I didn't want it to be beacon," David Walsh said. "With a hotel that's different. It's a marketing exercise. I want to market the city."

MONA Founder David Walsh

The popular Mona Foma (MOFO) festival will be shifted to Launceston while development is underway, and pending completion may return to MONA.

Plans for the development have yet to be approved by the local council, however MONA still earns a spot on the list of best things to do in Hobart. 

For more information, visit the Hotel at Mona.

See also:

Tasmania’s largest new-build hotel officially opened

Australia's top ranked public Golf Course for sale​

Hyatt Announces Plans for First Hyatt Centric Hotel in Australia​