VANCOUVER -- For 100 years the Lee building at the corner of Main and Broadway has been the tallest building in Mount Pleasant, a seven-storey anchor in a sea of two-storey houses and businesses.

No more.

On Tuesday Vancouver council approved a controversial 19-storey tower development across the street at the corner of Kingsway that will see the construction of 241 condominiums and a massive amount of street-level commercial space.

However, in rezoning the Rize Alliance project councillors put in some restrictions they hope will mute the considerable community opposition that emerged over six nights of public hearings, including the need for the developer to make the building less imposing. Coun. Andrea Reimer even told the developer she thinks his project "is ugly" and should be redrawn.

But those concerns, including a worry that a two-storey commercial space on which the tower will sit will create a "monolithic" streetscape along Broadway, wasn't enough for council to turn down the $165 million project. In part that's because the development will produce $6.5 million for the city in community amenity contributions, which will go toward building artists' space, affordable housing and cultural improvements elsewhere in Mount Pleasant.

The development may be controversial to area residents, who see it as too tall, too massive and too harmful to the neighbourhood's historic roots. But it is seen by the city as necessary to the its plan for denser transit-oriented housing in its central neighbourhoods, particularly along the Broadway corridor.

"In the century to come I think we will see this area leading the change and we need to think in the long term and ensure we have lots of housing along the transit routes," Mayor Gregor Robertson said.

Council was faced with a dilemma. Under the relatively new Mount Pleasant Community Plan the Rize's owners already had the right to put in a 15-storey — but less dense — tower without rezoning and without paying the city any community amenity contributions. The city was conscious that if it made conditions too onerous for the Rize, the developer could simply walk away and apply for a development permit under existing zoning.

Rize opted instead to rezone the land for higher density, with the majority of those new benefits accruing to the city's community building programs. Originally, the company offered to include 62 rental units in the project, but the city opted to take cash instead to help leverage affordable housing it believes it can obtain cheaper elsewhere.

Overall, the city will get nearly $11 million in contributions from the Rize, including $4.5 million for "cultural activities" including artists' production space; $538,000 for public art, $1.7 million for affordable housing and $3.4 million in development cost charges.

Chris Vollan, vice-president of development for Rize, said the rest of the money will cover traffic mitigation measures, including a left-turn bay on Kingsway.

As part of the plan, the city will turn 10th Avenue into a one-way street between Watson and Kingsway with a bike lane. The deal also includes an opportunity for the Mount Pleasant Food Co-Op to operate out of a 34,000 square foot commercial space.