Where is Marriner’s Jazz Club?

By Meg Hill

The long-awaited reopening of world-renowned Bennetts Lane Jazz club remains uncertain despite two rounds of planning approval.

The club, dubbed by Lonely Planet as the world’s best, first closed in 2015, when its original owner Michael Tortoni sold the Little Lonsdale St property for redevelopment.

Bennetts Lane had been operating for over two decades when it was sold to make way for a controversial apartment complex.

The intellectual rights to the club were subsequently purchased by property developer and theatre owner David Marriner.

Marriner reopened the club in its original building for a year while development on the site was yet to begin.

It closed again in early 2017, and Marriner then pursued plans to move the club to the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Flinders Lane.

Plans to redevelop part of the Grand Hyatt Hotel and reopen the club were approved by the City of Melbourne first in 2016 and again last year.

But work is still yet to begin. 

A council spokesperson said the application went through two rounds of approval because the plans had been amended to make “refinements” to the development.

The spokesperson said the applicant’s planning approval was still current.

CBD News understands Grand Hyatt owners had submitted objections to the original plans, and negotiations between Marriner and the hotel are ongoing.

Bennetts Lane Jazz Club management declined to provide comment to CBD News, and Grand Hyatt management did not respond to requests.