Expansive new plans for MONA (Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art) have been revealed by the museum’s multi-millionaire founder, David Walsh.

HOtel MOna, which will be known as HOMO, was the centrepiece of an announcement Walsh made to a Tasmanian Tourism industry event yesterday. The hotel will offer five-star accommodation across 172 rooms, and uses the Golden Gate Bridge as inspiration for both the colour and unique design of the hotel. It will be on the same site as MONA.

The top seven floors will be hung from a suspension bridge, and there will be a 1075-seat theatre at its base. It will be designed so that vibrations from performances won’t affect the other levels of the hotel.

Due to the scale of the proposed developments at the Berriedale Peninsula location, Walsh has approached the state government for funding to move the museum’s on-site summer festival, Mona Foma, to Launceston.

It will also feature “special experience” rooms, one-off suites designed by internationally renowned artists and a luxury spa treatment centre. Walsh also has ambitions to plumb the entire hotel with converted waste water.

A new children’s sculpture designed by artist Tom Otterness will feature on the outside lawn, as will a giant spun trampoline by Japanese¬-Canadian textile artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. There will also be an amphitheatre and a new stage for hosting live music.

Walsh has been a long time collector of rare books, scrolls and manuscripts and a circular, three-storey library is also being constructed to house his collection for display to the public.

Interstate travellers make up 74 per cent of Mona’s visitors annually, alongside providing for these visitors, the hotel will have a special focus on both local and international business and conference markets; new conference, function and retail spaces are being built.

The project is expected to take up to three years to be completed and comes with a more than $300 million price tag.

Plans have yet to be submitted to Glen Orchy Council, and the Guardian reports Walsh as saying he won’t push ahead if the local community objects to the plans.

Walsh also announced other yet-to-be-approved plans, including Monaco, a high-rollers-only casino, and a new tunnel and tower at Mona. Other planned accommodation projects include redevelopments at a Marion Bay homestead, where rooms can be rented for more than $2000 a night. At the other end of the spectrum is Hobo (HOBart Odour) a caravan park at Mona Walsh says is being hampered by council regulations.

Expansions of the existing museum have already begun. Four installations by revered American light artist James Turrell will be housed in the Pharos tower alongside work by Richard Wilson, Jean Tinguely, Charles Ross and Randy Polumbo. These works have been scheduled to open to the public on December 22.