IT'S official. Mid-size music venue the East Brunswick Club will shut down at the end of February to make way for a five-storey apartment block.

The venue's music bookers Way Over There sent out an email yesterday announcing the closure, which has been widely anticipated since plans were lodged two months ago by the hotel's new owners to turn the 500-person venue attached to the Victorian-era hotel into five floors of apartments, shops and offices.

A mock-up of the development included in the plans.

The email read: ''Sadly, all good things must come to an end. The East Brunswick Club will officially close its doors at the end of this summer. Venue owners Pete and Pam Benjamin have decided to retire from the hospitality industry and have sold the building. The new owners will not continue it as a live venue.''

Recent international acts to play at the club include Hollywood actor Tim Robbins, local band Jet, post-punk legends Swans and New York indie band the Drums.

The announcement comes 11 days after the sudden resignation of Steve Kingi, the band booker of St Kilda's Prince of Wales Bandroom, the 900-person venue recently bought by hospitality entrepreneur Julian Gerner. Best known for transforming St Kilda's Newmarket Hotel from a topless-barmaid dive to a fashionable Latin American restaurant, Mr Gerner has told The Age: ''We're not entertainment operators … our focus is on food.''