Jimmy Black added: "We need the homes and I'm pleased permission has been granted."
Demolition work is now underway at the Graham Street site that used to form part of Dundee College.
The city council has given the go-ahead for a multi-million pound development, including roads, footpaths and infrastructure, subject to conditions.
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Persimmon Homes East Scotland welcomed the decision and said eight more properties would be built on the four-acre plot than had previously been envisaged.
The firm's managing director, Jim Kirkpatrick, said: "The removal of the former Dundee College campus on Graham Street, which will create a new multi-million-pound housing development, is currently in progress and expected to be completed by the end of summer 2012.
"The site redevelopment has been redesigned to accommodate 54 properties and will feature a greater portion of first-time buyer homes.
"The entire development will provide a mixture of two and three-bedroom terraces, three-bedroom semi-detached and three, four and five-bedroom detached homes. The first properties are planned to be available for sale from August."
The Graham Street campus, located off Clepington Road, closed its doors to students last year and students moved to the nearby Kingsway campus, which had been refurbished at a cost of £48m.
(NE/GK)
