Vienna Woods? (Arlington, McLean, Fairfax: transplants, apartment complex, new home)

[AmJohnson]

Can anyone tell me about the neighborhood of Vienna Woods? I'm looking for pros, cons, what you like & don't like about the neighborhood, quality of the houses, etc.

Thanks!

[rtkavm]

This would be my question as well? Any response?

[JD984]

Vienna Woods is generally understood to refer to a large chunk of the south side of the Town of Vienna (22180). It's the most affordable part of either the Town of Vienna or Fairfax County with a Vienna mailing address.

Most of the housing stock is ramblers built in the 1950s on 1/4 or 1/2 acre lots; a fair number of these homes have since been renovated. Over the past year, older homes that have sold in Vienna Woods generally have gone for between $325-600K. There have also been quite a few tear-downs in the neighborhood. The newer homes typically sell for over $800K, with many over $1 million. What's missing in Vienna Woods compared to other parts of Vienna are a substantial number of houses in the $600-800K price range.

The pros of Vienna Woods include: many enjoy living in the Town of Vienna, with its good services, proximity to the Vienna Metro and the shopping on Maple Avenue; the neighborhood has a comfortable, older feel (compared to, say, a brand new subdivision that's been plowed over); and the schools, particularly the middle and high schools (Thoreau and Madison) have excellent reputations. It's also close to Tysons, but not as congested as the immediate area around Tysons.

The cons of Vienna Woods include: not all of the older homes are maintained in good condition, some of the local elementary schools enjoy better reputations than others, and both the Cedar Park apartment complex and the Cedar/Park shopping center on the edge of Vienna Woods are a bit run-down.

[Denton56]

I would agree with Jeb except to say that most of the homes are very well maintained. It's a great family community with many parks and pools withing walking distance. There are also 3 pre schools in Vienna Woods and two swimming pools with very active swim teams. Children walk to one of the three elementary schools. (I didn't realize until the last year that kids walking to school is rare in the rest of the county.) Kids can also walk or ride their bikes to sports practices at Waters and Yeonas fields and to classes at the Community Center and the Bowman Center. The town of Vienna has great services. Snow is plowed immediately. Your leaves are collected at curbside each fall, several times. Huge trash pickups, where you can throw out everything but the baby, are twice a year. Great fireworks on July 4th. Three day festival, Viva Vienna, over Memorial Day.

There is a woman here who lives in Vienna Woods, I hope that she will be along to tell you more. It is a GREAT place to raise a family.

[Denton56]

One more positive, if you live in Vienna Woods, you will never have to worry about being redistricted out of Madison high school. It's the town high school, if you live in the town, you go to Madison.

[DunnLauren]

We looked in the Town of Vienna last year before deciding on a neighborhood in McLean. I think what the other posters have said is accurate. It's a nice area. People did seem to be much more positive about Madison HS than the elementary schools, except for (I think) Vienna Elementary. There were also a lot of brand new million-dollar homes near much smaller homes. In McLean, the new homes seemed to blend into the older neighborhoods much better and people were as positive about the elementary school as the junior and high schools. The biggest factor for us, though, was that McLean was just closer to DC...

[michgc]

I don't live in Vienna Woods but I do live very close to it on the SW side of Vienna. I think the above descriptions are accurate. If you plunked the houses down in North Carolina or any other southern town, the houses would probably sell for in the $100K range. In other words, they are not impressive. But here in Vienna, it's a very popular area, and houses generally sell in the $400 -$500K range. If you look at the photo tour I did in Vienna on anther thread, the houses I showed are in Vienna Woods. I have many, many friends in all three elementary schools - Vienna Elementary, Marshall Road, and Cunningham Park. Everyone seems satisfied with their schools including myself. Some lower income families from Vienna park apartments do feed into Cunningham Park which probably brings down their test scores. And some apartment complexes in Fairfax feed into Marshall Road which brings a bit more diversity to that school. Vienna Elem. just got a beautiful makeover. (it's only partially done in my photo tour but it's nearly complete now and looks great!). Vienna is the original school for Vienna (for white students; black students went to Louise Archer). It's right in town, next to the Town Hall, the library, baseball fields, the community center, and the police station. It's very much a town school.

I walk around town A LOT! Most of the houses in Vienna Woods, while small, are very well kept. There are a small percentage that are a bit run-down. Most of the residents appear to be middle or upper middle class, with some lower middle class thrown in for good measure. The knock-down homes are becoming more widespread so there are many $1 million homes mixed in with the smaller ones. The Town of Vienna is a very desireable place to live and the housing values have not decreased as much as in many other areas of Northern Virginia.

To me the best part of living in the Town of Vienna is being able to walk and ride bikes around town for nearly everything. Like Denton56 said, there is much do on this part of town, two swim clubs (Vienna Woods which has a waiting list, and Vienna Aquatic Center which has a shorter waiting list), several preschools (I've used three of them!), the Community Center, baseball fields, Meadow Lane Park, the Library, access to shops, and the W&OD Trail. If you live farther back away from Maple Avenue, it's not as desireable (in my opinion anyway). Although, some prefer to live closer to the Metro so they can walk there, which is also desireable. As long as you can find a house that you are happy with - many only have 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, I think you cannot go wrong with the neighborhood. I say this with all honesty. I moved here in 2000 and could not be happier.

ETA: Most of the people I meet are friendly, wave when I walk by, and are generally down-to-earth. Our neighbor plowed our driveway yesterday and today just to be neighborly. People look out for each other. Kids meet up to walk to school. Many are involved in their community - school PTA, Girl Scouts, volunteer work, etc. It's not Mayberry and everything is not perfect, but, imho, you cannot do much better than the Town of Vienna in the Northern Virginia area.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by michgc

I don't live in Vienna Woods but I do live very close to it on the SW side of Vienna. I think the above descriptions are accurate. If you plunked the houses down in North Carolina or any other southern town, the houses would probably sell for in the $100K range. In other words, they are not impressive. But here in Vienna, it's a very popular area, and houses generally sell in the $400 -$500K range.

That would probably be the case in many northern towns as well, as long as they weren't towns near a major metropolitan area. The land values are driven largely by the proximity to DC and other job centers like Tysons. The same small three-bedroom ramblers that go for $350-500K in Vienna often sell for another $50-75K more in a few McLean neighborhoods and $100K more in Arlington. I'm sure it leads to major sticker-shock for some transplants to the area, but many who try commuting 40-50 miles to DC or Tysons daily eventually see the relationship.

[Claire2900]

I read an article recently about the high concentrations of pollution near Vienna schools.

[JD984]

Maybe this is the study you recall (which indicated that Vienna ES area had a higher than desirable presence of Benzene in the air):

Study reveals air pollution, chemicals create toxic schools - USATODAY.com

Looks like the same conclusion was reached with respect to Spring Hill in McLean and a local elementary school in Bethesda as well - could be that same finding would have been made for any school in the DC metropolitan area.