After unveiling plans on Tuesday for a multistorey precinct with dining, accommodation, retail and gallery space in a renovated city car park, billionaire Justin Hemmes says his original Melbourne project on Flinders Lane is “full steam ahead”.

Hemmes’ Merivale group bought Tomasetti House, an Edwardian-style building on the city’s most coveted eating and drinking street, in April 2021. It was Merivale’s first hospitality foray into Victoria after establishing itself as a leading player in NSW, particularly Sydney where it runs more than 70 venues.

Since 2021, the group has bought three more Victorian sites and opened one, Totti’s in Lorne. This week, Hemmes secured a City of Melbourne car park off Little Collins Street, which he hopes to turn into a precinct even more ambitious than The Ivy in Sydney’s CBD.

But the Flinders Lane project had seemingly stalled, missing its last reported opening date of late 2024.

Hemmes said on Wednesday he was hoping to finish construction on the seven-storey building this year, but that an opening date could be more likely in early 2026.

He put the delays down to Victoria’s soil, which is much softer than the sandstone of Sydney, and the earthquake code.

“It takes longer to do the base works,” he said.

Originally, a Chinese restaurant led by executive chef Jowett Yu was planned for one level of Tomasetti House. Diners can now expect three separate venues on the site, each with their own name and identity.

Hemmes confirmed to this masthead that a basement bar – “a very accessible, cool, cocktail bar, [with] live music” – and a rooftop bar would join the Chinese restaurant, which will occupy three levels, including the ground floor. That leaves two floors unaccounted for.

Asked if any of the venues will be modelled on Merivale’s Sydney portfolio, Hemmes said: “The Chinese restaurant will be very familiar.”

Yu helped open Merivale’s Cantonese venue Mr Wong alongside fellow chef Dan Hong in Sydney. He then went on to run Hong Kong’s successful Ho Lee Fook. Yu will bring his own personality and interest in Chinese cooking to the Flinders Lane venue.

“We always build the businesses around the individuals and their style, so they always have those idiosyncrasies that relate to the chefs,” Hemmes said.

Sydney design firm ACME is working on the Chinese restaurant and the basement bar, while Akin Atelier (also from Sydney) will design the rooftop level.

Locally, ACME has designed Gimlet and Apollo Inn (both in Andrew McConnell’s portfolio), while Akin worked on Reine & La Rue inside the former Melbourne stock exchange. Joinery was being completed by three different contractors due to the volume of what was required, Hemmes said.

Services, such as gas, power and cabling, are now being installed at Flinders Lane and the fitout has been marked out. Hemmes visited the site on Wednesday to give his tick of approval. He says he’s in Melbourne every fortnight to check on the progress of the build.

Merivale agreed to pay $19.25 million to former staff last year following allegations they were underpaid. The group has also been the subject of an investigation by this masthead into allegations of sexual harassment, exploitation and drug use at its venues, and has begun its own internal investigation into the claims.

The timeline for the Little Collins Street car park project – which will include a version of Mimi’s, the splashy seaside diner favoured by Sydney’s glamour set – will be determined by whether Merivale can reach an agreement with current leaseholder Dexus, whose tenancy has 13 years left to run.

Hemmes expressed hope that he’d be able to start work sooner than that by negotiating with a real estate investment group.