Ken Gray
The Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

The city's planning committee approved a controversial 24-storey highrise at 495 Richmond Rd. yesterday and the project's developer says Ottawa's central neighbourhoods can expect many more such lofty buildings in the future.

Wayne Jennings, the vice-president of Canderel, said rising land prices in the city mean builders must put tall structures on downtown plots of land to make them economically feasible.

While the public applauded the urban boundary in the city's official plan, beyond which development cannot cross, Mr. Jennings said the side effect of that border is to push up land prices and the height of buildings in traditional residential areas.

"You are going to get more of it," Mr. Jennings said.