Can Anyone Tell Me About Centreville (Arlington, McLean: housing, rent, work)

[Leerinsmom]

My husband works and goes to school at George Washington University. He's only been in DC since January. I have not moved yet but I see a lot of nice townhomes in Centreville. Can anyone tell me about this town? Can you catch the metro into DC, how is the shopping, is it a friendly area etc?
We are a young married couple with no children. We do have a dog and would like to rent a row house or townhome.

[novanative75]

It is a nice town and I think you will find some affordable places and there are a lot of young people. You will need to drive to Vienna to get the metro so commuting into DC may take awhile but people surely do it.
Good luck!

[lindsayd]

There is a park and ride lot off Stringfellow Road with buses that go directly to Vienna Metro. The community of Faircrest is really nice and has some great townhomes.

[mtneeratheart]

The commute to DC is brutal from Centreville but as mentioned before A LOT of people do it. If you decide Metro is the option for you, make sure you factor in drive time to the Vienna station, not sure about specifics but it isn't exactly just down the street.

[shauna714]

I've lived in Centreville for over 10 years. It is relatively new, clean and a nice safe place. It is ethnically diverse, as is most of Northern Virginia. In Centreville you will find a large Hispanic and Asian population with Indian and Americans as well. Centreville is right on Rt. 66 and the closest metro stop would be about 10 miles away. You would take Rt. 66 to get there and without traffic (yeah, right !) it would take you 15 minutes. If you are going to the metro in rush hour, good luck, it will take you 30 to 45 minutes to get there and then you have to time it so you get there while there are still parking spaces available. If you plan to take the metro on weekends, by far the best bet, it's easy to do from Centreville.
You will find grocery stores and restaurants in Centreville, but for shopping you will find almost everything you need in nearby Fairfax. The shopping is great here, don't worry ! We have great stores like Wegman's, Whole Foods Market, Crate and Barrel, plus really nice malls at Fair Oaks in Fairfax and Tyson's Corner Center in McLean.
Honestly, you will love the nice clean look to this place. The only drawbacks I might mention are traffic (unavoidable here) and because of it, people can get stressed and rather rude at times.

[TheseGoTo11]

As other posters have mentioned, Centreville is ethnically diverse, particularly with Asian and Hisp immigrants, it's not the white bread community city snobs make it out to be. Housing is also reasonable compared to other parts of the DC area.

Even though it's fairly densely populated, it doesn't have much going on. It's the kind of place where people drive in minivans to watch mass distributed movies and to eat at chain restaurants. Many people are OK with that, especially if they have kids, but everyone I know who doesn't have children has eventually moved closer in to Arlington or Falls Church - not so much for the commute, but to be closer to theaters, interesting restaurants, etc.

[sgermanguy]

I think that I would take Sterling over Centreville. They really built too many townhomes in Centreville. Traffic is hell on Braddock and hell on 66. Other than that, it's pretty nice--you could do a lot worse, like Woodbridge. Trader Joe's is close by; that's always a plus.

[vartx]

There are quite a few communities in Centreville that are just off of 66 and 28 that you can possibly look at. Especially with the closing down of some of the lanes on 28 that would take the left turn to 66, traffic has become streamlined. Of course, traffic on 66 is highly unpredictable. But I know of a lot of people who commute to DC from Centreville. It is definitely easier to commute from Centreville to DC than the Ashburn/Sterling area.

[newgatedenizen]

Thought I’d chip in with my 2 cents… I’ve lived in Centreville for 18 years and one of my favorite things about living here is the easy access to great places to hike and walk. There are numerous hiking trails along the Cub Run, Big Rocky Run, Little Rocky Run and Elk Lick Run Stream Valleys. Also, at Willow Pond and Eleanor C. Lawrence Parks. Centreville is surrounded by about 4000 acres of parkland that comprise the Sully Woodlands. There is also a dog park at the Quinn Farm Park on Old Lee Road. So even though it’s an urban area it not as densely packed as eastern Fairfax County...

Additionally, Centreville is very close to numerous other hiking gems – such as Manassas Battlefield Park, Prince William Forest Park, Bull Run Mountain Conservancy, Wildcat Mountain Nature Preserve, and G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Refuge. If you are up for a day trip the Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest are doable.

[car54]

Just stay away from London Towne....ghetto all the way.