What About the 'lesser' Urban Views?

I recently wrote an article for Urban Living in the 'Couv' about views that are eliminated or obstructed when new high-rise projects are erected. That article focused on the potential for loss of property value as well as losing the view which may have been an important part of the decision to buy a particular unit.

Here is a link to that article: Careful, Urban Views can be Fleeting

But many units in urban areas already have obstructed views of the city. In fact the target project of the above reference article is Parkview Tower in Downtown Vancouver WA. This building has west facing units with a permanently protected view of Esther Short Park but the east facing units all look directly at Vancouver Center 3.

What about these obstructed urban views? Some may feel that their is a lack of privacy when you are looking right into the windows of another high rise only 50-100 feet away. But there is a certain cool vibe about it. Sure, at night you might want to pull the blinds in your bedroom, but looking out your living room window after dark yields a pretty nice city lights type experience. For some there is value in this real urban type view, that whole New York City style view. You don't have to be up 40 floors to get it either.

Really the view is highly subjective. Some people just like being up high off the ground, others expect a view to include something spectacular like a grand panorama or a river, mountain, etc. To each his own as they say, but bear in mind that those more majestic views will not come cheap in most cases. But "not cheap" is subjective as well. This nice little condo in Parkview is listed for $350k and features a permanent view of the very majestic, Esther Short Park. Who says you can't get a cheap view? The guy with a budget of 290k, I guess ;)

Whatever you do, enjoy the view be it majestic or just another building.