Business Edge

Rapidly rising construction costs will not shrink Vancouver's tallest building, says the project's designer. The 60-storey Living Shangri-La hotel and condo project at the corner of Georgia and Thurlow streets, slated for completion in 2008, had an initial reported cost of $250 million. Bruce Tidball of Westbank Projects Corp. says he cannot estimate cost increases because expenses are "dynamic." "The cost of the project has gone up," says Tidball. Vancouver-based Westbank, headed by Ian Gillespie, and Peterson Investment Group Inc., directed by Ben Yeung, are developing the site for Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Group of companies, which is controlled by the Malaysian-Chinese Kuok family.