I don't think higher buildings around Mayfair Mall would be out of place at all. That 'Ross Place' building is not located downtown, but it's 10ish stories (going from memory, might be less). There are buildings in Oak Bay that are taller than this.
The tallest building in Oak Bay would be shorter than this proposed building by a few stories, and more importantly it's probably not even 2/3 as wide.
I know I'm beating a dead horse but the shape should be a much bigger concern than the sheer height. Slim buildings on small footprints like the Juliet or Corazon are highly preferable to very wide buildings like Harbour Towers or Bayview. I'm repeating myself, but it's all about shadowing, visual monotony, and blocked views.
View Towers' negatives would be exactly the same even if the building were two or three stories shorter or two or three stories taller. The sheer height of the place just isn't that big a factor when we're assessing how View Towers impacts its surroundings.
It's no contest as to which format has been the better fit on Victoria. Does anybody disagree on this point? Would you prefer a city full of buildings shaped like View Towers, Harbour Towers, Bayview, and the Tara Apartments or a city full of buildings shaped like the Juliet, Corazon, Astoria, First Island Financial, and the Oswego Hotel?
If you absolutely must do it wide then make a concession and include a cut-out, as they did with Aria, The Falls, and that Tillicum Mall proposal.
G-Man might say Victoria's overall population density would be a bit lower if the widescrapers had been slimmer. Sure, I agree, it would be. But we don't need to worry because the widescrapers
weren't slimmer.
Summary: Victoria needs to drop the wide building fetish. I have nothing against the basic concept of this Speed/Frances proposal. Much of it looks better than I was expecting. But the main tower building is too wide.