Looking for a small town with a town center (Silver Spring: apartments, to rent)

[cdeshano]

My family is moving to Maryland and we are hoping to live in a small town (less than 100,000 people) with a traditional town center (sidewalks, stores/restaurants). We'd also prefer to live somewhere close to a MARC station. Any suggestions?

[goterps123]

Silver Spring and Rockville both have what you're looking for, I think, but do you have any price ranges or anything?

[cdeshano]

To add a bit more information to my original post: we would like to rent a 3-bed apartment/townhouse/house for around $1750. We have one child who will be attending preschool. Green spaces (parks, golf courses) are important. We travel internationally regularly so access to an international airport is also important.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by goterps123

Silver Spring and Rockville both have what you're looking for, I think, but do you have any price ranges or anything?

Silver Spring is not a small town and I don't really think Rockville would qualify either...

[oneworld25]

You might want to look at Catonsville, Oella, and Ellicott City. If you want to find something in your price range, Catonsville will probably be your best bet.

[Merlander]

Try Frederick. Population of about 60K and a very nice & traditional downtown area. Baker Park has lots of open space and is walkable from downtown. It's also a park that is used extensively by residents, with lots of events & activities. There's a MARC station [with limited service]. Frederick is about equidistant to BWI and IAD, although BWI is the preferable arpt and less than an hour's drive.

[cgordon]

Ditto to Frederick. Has what you appear to be looking for and is fairly safe, very friendly and eminently walk- or cycle-able.

[trying2moveup]

Frederick is great and loved it when living there.
Now live in Laurel. There is not a town center, but a main street and it is in various stages of revitalization, combatting the current economy.

I can walk to the MARC. . . and love the sounds of the horns (where, they do minimal horn blasting - unlike Frederick where they pull that horn so long that I could hear it plain as day. . . and I lived 5 miles from the actual station in the downtown area!)

[cpterp]

I don't know if <100,000 qualifiies as a "small town" ;-), but Germantown, Rockville, and Gaithersburg in Montgomery County all have populations around 50,000, town centers, and MARC stations (Gaithersburg has 3). However, all three towns have different characters.

Gaithersburg, has a lot of history and is much older than it's neighbouring sister, Germantown. The town center in Gaithersburg, where the historic MARC (originally B&O) station is located, is very nice, with a lot of antique shops and brick sidewalks. Unlike Germantown, Gaithersburg is much more diverse income-wise, and you'll find some really exclusive high end areas with very low crime such as Quince Orchard, and some relatively low-income that may have some gang activity. Gaithersburg, and much less affluent Langley Park, are well-known for being hubs for illegal immigrants in the state.

Germantown, where I reside, is almost exactly the same size as G'burg, but has much less character, since it's a very young planned community and isn't incorporated like G'burg or R'ville. There is a brand new Town Center in Germantown, with numerous shops (five guys, cold stone creamery etc.), a Safeway, and Black Rock Center for the Arts, and other retail right behind this very large Mercedes-Benz dealer. There are a large number some condos/apartments and townhomes adjacent, and a busy Transit Center as well. The busy MARC station (also ex-B&O) is about 2-3min away on MD118 depending on the lights. I use a combination of MARC/Metro to commute to College Park daily. As others have mentioned I wouldn't live adjacent to the station though. CSX trains share the tracks with MARC and operate 24/7, sounding their horn when they approach the station. They may have nightime restrictions though.

Rockville has more of a "city" feel and has a true downtown, unlike the two G's. It is more expensive than Gaithersburg and Germantown however (which are already extremely expensive themselves), but the downtown area has a lot of nice shops and restaurants, is very easily accessibly from the Metro/MARC station, and a very large (and expensive) condo development just opened there called "Rockville Town Square." Rockville also has two of the top public high schools in the country (Northwest HS in Germantown is another).

[tercel95]

Cterp can you tell me where you are getting the data that Northwest High is one of the top schools in the country? Not that I doubt you just curious where you are getting the info...