What's the "Allure" of Gainesville? (Richmond, Arlington: cul-de-sac, condo)

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Yes, we did too. Our kids have been all over this country, even Hawaii and Alaska and North Dakota! Also many trips to Europe, later Africa, Japan, Australia, and China. But most young families can't afford to do that. Nor can they afford to eat out all the time and movies are quite expensive if you need a babysitter. Kid friendly restaurants are often not a relaxing night out! DC is a great family place because kids love to ride the metro and all the museums and the zoo are free. We made MANY trips to town when the kids were little! My kids would have been bored to death strolling around a town center.

I was actually thinking that down the road/in the future, town centers/lifestyle centers might cater to families with young children even more than what we see today, to include things like waterparks, bowling alleys or skating rinks, maybe even stuff like at Mall of American, Lego Land and a roller coaster!

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by ngadude

Anyway, to classify Gainesville as just all vinyl is inaccurate. In fact, one neighborhood is not at all vinyl style - ....

I think that khuntrevor was referring to architecture, historic versus new. And yes, the old/historic stuff was solid brick, not brick veneer which is what most of the newer houses have today.

We can go on and on about quality of materials and craftsmanship but that's more for a topic in the House Forum.

[marie5v]

Gainesville is a actually an excellent place to live for the right person. My mother, who is retired, moved there and couldn't be happier. Although it doesn't have a "center" or any particularly nice or quaint "town" area, and it does have that awful, messy stretch of 29, it does have affordable houses (new, and in nice, planned communities) and a lot of conveniences. It's only a 15-20 minute drive to Fairfax, but also an easy drive to points west (like Warrenton). That means, for a retiree that has family in the closer-in parts of NOVA, but who also has the time to enjoy the leisure activities and scenery out in the western areas, Gainesville is a great place to live. It also has the advantage of having a decent shopping center (where the 29 mess is) that has pretty much all the stores one typically needs and also the beginning of a town center in there (never expanded as planned for budget reasons). Although I worried at first that traffic on 66 would be a problem, she bought a Prius and now really has no problem driving wherever she wants from Gainesville. A lot of retired people with family in the area live there for all these reasons - plus, it offers some truly nice communities for active adults.

[dod236]

sounds like me! Mine are only 4 & 2

[quote=Denton56;16239577]

Originally Posted by Alanboy395

I have that figured out. I'm not getting married and I'm DEFINITELY not having kids.<<<

I felt that way too when I was your age. So I waited until my 30's to get married and have kids. I never regretted waiting and never regretted having kids. It was and is the best thing I ever did. They made me laugh and enjoy life every single day of their lives.

[khuntrevor]

My apologies. It must have been Bull Run Middle School. My parents spent four years at Heritage Hunt and those homes were US Homes (now Lennar), and the construction was flimsy, and their energy bills were sky high. Their 1993 NVR Home is much better built with 2 x 12s underneath the floors. I would say their energy bills are half of what they were at HH. HH was all on one level, and that had something to do with it, but they had some gas bills of like 350 usd.

[Denton56]

[quote=dod236;16248408]sounds like me! Mine are only 4 & 2

Mine are now in their 20's and they still make me laugh and bring to joy to our lives everyday! Having kids was the best thing I ever did in my life. Our furry kids are right up there too! They too bring joy and make us laugh alot!

[ngadude]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

My apologies. It must have been Bull Run Middle School. My parents spent four years at Heritage Hunt and those homes were US Homes (now Lennar), and the construction was flimsy, and their energy bills were sky high. Their 1993 NVR Home is much better built with 2 x 12s underneath the floors. I would say their energy bills are half of what they were at HH. HH was all on one level, and that had something to do with it, but they had some gas bills of like 350 usd.

Heritage Hunt is an active adult 55 or over community. The homes are indeed all on one level. Those are really high gas bills. I've been here 2 years - in the very dead of winter my gas bill was only $150 and quite probably it is more square feet than a home at Heritage Hunt. Those homes must not have very good insulation or windows or something. My parents live in that kind of active adult community up in NJ with 1 floor homes (well, theirs has a loft) and their gas bills are normal for their size home.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by ngadude

Heritage Hunt is an active adult 55 or over community. The homes are indeed all on one level. Those are really high gas bills. I've been here 2 years - in the very dead of winter my gas bill was only $150 and quite probably it is more square feet than a home at Heritage Hunt. Those homes must not have very good insulation or windows or something. My parents live in that kind of active adult community up in NJ with 1 floor homes (well, theirs has a loft) and their gas bills are normal for their size home.

I second that - my mother lives there and does not have high gas bills. There is one particular model of home that might have high bills in winter - it is a stand-alone with one enormous great room that has extremely high ceilings. I imagine that might be hard to heat. But most homes there are not like that. Also, they are not all one level - they typically have an upstairs or downstairs, but have all the necessary facilities to live on one floor, so that should the owner not be able to do stairs he/she can live on one level.

[normie]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

My parents spent four years at Heritage Hunt and those homes were US Homes (now Lennar), and the construction was flimsy, and their energy bills were sky high. Their 1993 NVR Home is much better built with 2 x 12s underneath the floors. I would say their energy bills are half of what they were at HH. HH was all on one level, and that had something to do with it, but they had some gas bills of like 350 usd.

Wow, I'm really surprised to read this. Your parents lived in a 1-story unit during a period when Nova had mild winters, and paid $350 gas bills? I live in a ridiculously big 3-story McMansion (what can I say, I have a huge family and a lot of guests). Last year, during our unusually cold and snowy winter, the worst bill was only $260. And we have high ceilings and the type of dramatic foyer that looks great but takes extra money to heat.

BTW, if your parents lived in a 55+ community that may be why the units seemed so close together. Most 55+ communities make a point of having homes on tiny lots (and often with no lots). For seniors, it's considered a major attraction. After retirement, many people want to let go of yard work.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by HEATHER72

Gainesville DOES have a "focal point". It's called Virginia Gateway with expansion in 2012.

Welcome to Virginia Gateway

There are too many other town centers for the Gainesville/Haymarket/Bristow area in the works to list here.

We're not out here in the boonies with no shops, restaurants or things to do.

Originally Posted by ngadude

Exactly. I even pointed that out in my earlier post, yet it still is being harped on that Gainesville "does not have a focal point". Gainesville is relatively new so still is a work in progress. 10 years ago Gainesville was nothing but a railroad crossing and some big gravel quarries and rundown stores.

Already, there's a huge amount of shops and restaurants to choose from, and almost no need to venture anywhere else for shopping or dining. Other than, I wish a good steak place would come - but I'm sure in time it will.

The VA Gateway website that Heather posted shows pictures of what the town center will look like. Already there's plenty of stores and restaurants just in VA Gateway, not to mention other shopping centers down Rt. 29 to the west of the aforementioned train crossing intersection. We have Wegmans and several other big chain grocery stores - although Wegmans is my store of choice for shopping.

Also, there's Haymarket only a mile north of that intersection, if you like a nice old town district with restaurants and shopping. I was at Haymarket Day a few weekends ago and as every year, that was a great event.

I suppose different strokes for different folks. Strip malls filled with mostly chain businesses that you have to drive to that have some pretty landscaping thrown in for good measure will never be the equivalent of a "town center" in my book. Reston Town Center is the closest thing much of this area has to a true "downtown", and even that is very flawed in many regards with even our community's own founder recently quoted pointing out its shortcomings at a recent meeting to discuss the Metrorail project coming here (which also, ironically, will not have a station IN Reston Town Center). What I drove past near the intersection of Route 29 and I-66 with the Target, Lowe's, Best Buy, etc. surrounded by the massive parking lots did not impress me. The developer is on the right path with the eventual "Market Square" phase, but it's disappointing to see "Wentworth Green" will be segregated from the shopping/dining areas instead of interspersed amongst them. Most of this project is car-dependent, which isn't something that's going to win any awards from me. How much do you want to bet that most residents of Wentworth Green will end up driving to Giant for their groceries, even though it's practically right next-door?

I never said Gainesville was "out in the boonies with no shops, restaurants, or things to do." Those were your words. I indicated I saw this development, the one with Harris Teeter, and the one with Wegman's, and I still didn't quite figure out just where the "center" of town was supposed to be. There's no guesswork to find the centralized community gathering spot/focal point in places like Reston, Fairfax, Vienna, Falls Church, Brambleton, Winchester, Manassas, etc. In Gainesville I couldn't figure out which one of those three large shopping areas was vying to be the "downtown", and I couldn't really call ANY of them contenders to be a true "downtown" in the sense of the word because all three are lacking in that they are designed around the automobile first and then pedestrians/cyclists second. You're not going to improve traffic flow on Route 29 if you keep on building Gainesville up the way you have been---a subdivision in Lot A, a strip mall in Lot B, a school in Lot C, another subdivision in Lot D, a parking lot in Lot E, etc. and then making everyone drive from lot to lot, even though most may live only a mile or two from any or all of their destinations amongst the lots. The fact that Market Square's residential component of Wentworth Green is not free-flowing into the commercial aspects frightens me about how these "too many other town centers in the works to list" may also be planned.

Also, I don't buy the "it is what it is because it's grown so quickly" argument. Rapid growth does not excuse poor planning. Look at all of the billions of dollars we now have to spend to "fix" Tysons Corner. Look at the billions that will have to be spent to "fix" Reston. At a time when our nation should be tightening its belt we continue to have to spend more and more to make up for mistakes that never should have been allowed to happen. I just get worried that Gainesville is headed on an ominous path to being the next Reston or Tysons Corner in another decade, and then everyone will just whine "how could nobody have seen this coming?"