Melbourne’s CBD is set to get another live music venue, with new venue Ruby’s Music Room opening for business in March, but only after the owner of a nearby establishment unsuccessfully blocked the development of the new venue, having his legal challenges against the new laneway bar rejected as “vexatious.”

According to The Shoutthe interesting turn of events begins with Michael Tortoni, the owner and operator of live music institution Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, opposing an application from one Robert Cripps to open Ruby’s Music Room just down the road, near the corner of Bennetts Lane and Little Lonsdale Street in the Melbourne CBD, on the basis that the venue would “cannibalise” a similar gig-going clientele.

Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, which was the site for some of The Cat Empire’s earliest jams, as well Prince’s famed secret gigs, and regularly hosts local and international acts, will soon be sharing the same street with a competitor. A move that Tortoni attempted to block with every legal hurdle he could.

Tortoni, who doubles as creative director the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, first applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for a review of planning permit for Ruby’s Music Room, a decision granted by local council, on the basis that he was concerned about the new venue’s capacity of 94 patrons, as well as its waste management plan.

The VCAT tribunal also heard contrary evidence against Tortoni that the real reason he was oppossing the new venue was that he saw it as a direct competitor to to his own club.“This will have a shattering effect on an already financially marginal business.” – Michael Toroni, Bennetts Lane Jazz Club

The Shout reports that correspondence from Tortoni was quoted to the VCAT hearing where he said we would not support the “cannibalisation” of his business, that he’d spent many years building.

Tortoni reportedly proposed that Cripps’ new venue would snatch away much of the ‘walk up’ to the venue that he had established over “20 years of goodwill.” Adding that if Cripps “wanted to satisfy such a passion somewhere else that was not as blatantly opportunistic as his attempt to feed off my hard work, my view may be different.”

“This will have a shattering effect on an already financially marginal business,” added Tortoni. “Jobs would be lost and a Melbourne icon and national treasure would be gone forever all caused by an individual with dubious intentions.”

Dalia Cook, representative of the VCAT Tribunal, said Tortoni’s evidence “globally indicates” that his challenge of the new venue’s planning permit was “principally motivated to maintain an indirect advantage for his existing venue, by protecting it from competition associated with the proposed venue.”

“In the absence of cogent planning grounds in support of the application, these features characterise the application as vexatious in that the review was brought for a collateral purpose,” she said.

Not only that, but Ms. Cook ordered that Michael Tortoni pay legal costs of $1,700 to Robert Cripps’ company Redleg Museum Services.

Cripps called Tortoni’s objections “farcical,” and spoke of his plans for Ruby’s Music Room, opening in March. “We’ll be operating as a café through the day, and then the venue will be themed by curtains that will close along the walls for performances at night,” he said.

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