Moving to NoVA/Fairfax County with teens, looking for more Urban than Suburban

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by leighland

The Sea Pearl Restaurant plus the bakery/Coldstone, Chipolte right there are nice. There's some other stuff there but its impossible to get to.

As for the construction, I pass there twice day and there are crews working there on all for corners of 29 and Gallows and on the Beltway bridge over rt29 Monday thru Friday.

It wouldn't be the first time that a big redevelopment effort stalled with an economic downturn. Some of the nicest blocks in the Penn Quarter in downtown DC took years to redevelop after the real estate downturn in the early 90s.

I think the Four Sisters (Vietnamese) restaurant moved to this area last year - wonder if they are regretting the move from Eden Center. As far as I'm aware, they are still doing pretty good business at the Merrifield location.

[saganista]

Four Sisters is just kitty-corner from Sea Pearl. There are just the two new buidlings there on the west side of Gallows Road just south of Lee Highway. The buildings are divided by Strawberry Lane, and both restaurants front onto that. Sea Pearl is on the side facing Gallows in the south building. Four Sisters is on the side away from Gallows in the north building. Both are excellent ideas and worth a trip that isn't very difficult evenings and weekends at all. Right off Gallows southbound or off Lee Highway eastbound into the old movie theater entrance. Plenty of outdoor parking, or simply duck into the garage to avoid any inclemency.

I've not been in Four Sisters when it was not doing a very brisk business, so I doubt they are much regretting the move. Lots of very fine food there and at least a decent wine list. Fairly informal, very comfortable place to dine. If having naver done so, do get somebody to order the Shrimp Toast appetizer. It's scrumptious. Sea Pearl is more formal and a little pricier. Interestingly decorated dining room with an adequate or better wine list. If you are there with a group craving seafood but you're not quite in that mood, I can recommend ordering the pork chop with sauteed spinach. I was in that situation last time there and did so, being much more than pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

[normie]

Hey saganista--sorry to go off topic for a second but I just noticed you've got a brand new star!!!!! Congrats, and here's another rep point just to get you started towards your next one. I've owed you a bunch of reps over the last year, don't know why I forget to give them out.

[claremarie]

This past winter, I drove my teenage son back to DC to visit friends. It took 11 hours, including the first hour through a foot of lake-effect snow. We went straight to Four Sisters, at his request. It is definitely worth any minor traffic hassles, and there is plenty of free parking in the garage.

[irvine]

Originally Posted by steviez

We love Alex Old Town but want to make sure the high school experience is really excellent and we think we should probably look in Fairfax County. Happy not to own land but want a nice house. Our preference is older but townhouses are cool too. Kids are musical/dance oriented. No commute issues really. Any suggestions? - I'm scared of subdivisions and never making friends too!
...to answer a couple of questions raised - we are looking in fairfax county because it seems it will be the politically correct thing to do for the particular job which is bringing us to the area. I don't think it would be the end of the world if we lived outside the county but it would be a real boon to find the right place inside it for the employers....

Fairfax County is generally suburban with some urbanizing areas, like Reston, or Bailey's Crossroads around the Skyline residential/office/retail complex. Lake Barcroft is an attractive area of 50s/60s-era contemporary homes near Bailey's but it is fairly disconnected from the commercial areas. Reston, which you mentioned, is a 60s-era "new town" originally conceived as an alternative to the typical suburban sprawl of the region. The Lake Anne neighborhood in Reston is an interesting neighborhood, with 60s-era townhomes/rowhouses and apartments and a lakefront village. There are other communities in Reston that have single family homes, but unlike the older inner suburbs, Reston is still spread out, somewhat disconnected despite its excellent pathway network, and not exactly dense (with the exception of Reston Town Center, an island of urban development within suburbia). A particularly interesting rowhouse neighborhood in Reston is the Hickory Cluster. The housing clusters have a shared courtyard and are surrounded by parkland. The design is contemporary, with floor to ceiling glass.

The Alexandria section of Fairfax County, which you mentioned, is somewhat disconnected from the The City of Alexandria/Old Town: The GW Parkway and the Mount Vernon bike trail do connect well, but walking from your house in Fairfax County to the urban areas of Alexandria is a bit unrealistic.

Seriously take a look at the urban neighborhoods within Arlington County, which borders Fairfax County. The single family home neighborhoods along Metro's Orange line are probably what you have in mind, in terms of adjacent vibrant urban neighborhoods. These are some of the oldest neighborhoods in Arlington with a variety of housing types: fairly large brick "colonials," dutch colonials, Craftsman homes, and small capes or bungalows. They resemble the older neighborhoods of NW DC and neighboring Montgomery county. Very walkable communities with parks, coffee shops, grocery stores, excellent public transport, etc.

These neighborhoods are zoned to either Yorktown or Washington-Lee High Schools, which are located in North Arlington (the current boundary line is in Clarendon). Both schools are excellent, with Yorktown the newer, more suburban and W-L the older, more urban high school. The current Washington-Lee HS boundaries include the pricey, very suburban neighborhoods just north of Nellie Custis Dr. and Lorcom Lane, the older, "historic" neighborhoods adjacent to Metro, and the more modest, urban neighborhoods in South Arlington north of Columbia Pike. The high school experience at either school would be excellent, and as JEB77 wrote, while W-L's test scores might not be as high as Yorktown's, which is more uniformly upper-middle class, W-L does compare favorably with Fairfax County high schools. Both high schools have received the Dept of Education's Blue Ribbon Award for academic excellence and are highly ranked nationally.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by leighland

The Sea Pearl Restaurant plus the bakery/Coldstone, Chipolte right there are nice. There's some other stuff there but its impossible to get to.

As for the construction, I pass there twice day and there are crews working there on all for corners of 29 and Gallows and on the Beltway bridge over rt29 Monday thru Friday.

Time will tell whether Sea Pearl will make it. They're an over priced asian fusion joint that has hit or miss options. They now advertise with coupons and happy hour specials. Not good for a supposed "high end" restaurant.

Get used to the construction. There's not enough money in the budget to finish the work this fiscal year.

[mississippimagnolia]

My vote would have to go to Burke. Both of the high schools are excellent...Lake Braddock and Robinson. Robinson is supposed to have a fantastic drama department...I think that's what you said your kids are in to, right? Braddock probably has a good program too...I just don't know as much about it.

We are moving to Burke in about a month. We have lived there twice before and absolutely loved it.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by mississippimagnolia

My vote would have to go to Burke. Both of the high schools are excellent...Lake Braddock and Robinson. Robinson is supposed to have a fantastic drama department...I think that's what you said your kids are in to, right? Braddock probably has a good program too...I just don't know as much about it.

We are moving to Burke in about a month. We have lived there twice before and absolutely loved it.

Keep in mind that Robinson serves both as a middle school and high school. It's huge.

In that general area, you have WT Woodson, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, and Robinson.

I'd pick WT Woodson first.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Keep in mind that Robinson serves both as a middle school and high school. It's huge.

In that general area, you have WT Woodson, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, and Robinson.

I'd pick WT Woodson first.

Lake Braddock is a secondary school as well, with both a middle and high school. I don't think the combined enrollment is as large as Robinson, but it's big and will be even bigger if, as expected, the School Board redistricts some Annandale students to Lake Braddock. Some folks prefer smaller schools and others are equally comfortable with the large secondary schools.