I feel for this guy. I lived in the northeast side of chicago in an 8 story building, this was on the fringes of the city not downtown. I moved into the place because I had a perfect view facing west unabstructed. but then not a month later they started building this godawful condo building, floor by floor my view disappeared. when finished it looked like a russian prison. i took some satisfaction in knowing that they finished construction in september of 08…. then the market collapsed shortly after and the lost 3/4 of there commercial and residential tenants. want a garunteed unabstructed view? move to montana.

@tigergwm thanks for the re-appraisal suggestion for John. that certainly can be an option if the view lost was substantial. it really depends what kind of view was blocked. John only mentions it was a slice of sky, which is a far cry from a million dollar view on private waterfront. And as for reducing the tax, re-assessing the value downward is not going to be easy based on just one factor of view. They will ask for several comps within a certain timeframe to justify a tax reduction. sq ft, size, lot, price, condition typically take precedence of view. but like you said, if it is a special community of waterfront/million dollar views, then John may have a fighting chance. Thanks for the comment tigergwm!