I just moved to Reston approximately three weeks ago and live in one of the most desirable parts of town, in my humble opinion. From my complex along North Shore Drive I can walk approximately a half-mile to the Reston Town Center or to Lake Anne in opposite directions. In another four or five years I'll be able to walk to a Metro station for the upcoming Silver Line. I routinely walk to Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and nearby parks as well. I can also walk to three different houses of worship (I meant to scope out one this morning but got a bit "distracted" last night with a bottle of Shiraz!)
I think
20190 is a good zip code to consider. Generally speaking most people hype up the Northpoint area of Reston, which is the sprawling neighborhood near the Reston Parkway between Route 7 on the north and Route 606 (Baron Cameron Avenue) to the south. At the southernmost part of this neighborhood is a shopping center with a Home Depot and some other conveniences. In the heart of the neighborhood is a major local shopping center with a Giant, Hallmark, GameStop, and various other stores---I actually do all of my grocery shopping now at that Giant and find it to be a great store in a very attractive shopping center. The Northpoint neighborhood, generally speaking, has the
20194 zip code. It's a quiet area but besides the Home Depot and the Northpoint Village Shopping Center I really wouldn't consider it to be "walkable."
Give my neighborhood, 20190, a look, as it ought to be more affordable than the Northpoint area. Generally speaking if you look at a map we're bounded on the north by Route 606 (Baron Cameron Avenue), on the west by Reston Parkway and the Reston Town Center, on the south by the 267 Toll Road, and on the East/Northeast by Lake Anne and Wiehle Avenue. I suppose I'm living in "Central" Reston. From here I can walk to just about anything I need, and there is a parking lot for the very popular Washington & Old Dominion Trail at the bottom of Old Reston Avenue, across from the Oracle campus, which is about a half-mile from my home. There are some cute 1970s-era single-family dwellings in the neighborhood around Fairway Drive and Hook Road. You might want to look into Parc Reston. That's a nice neighborhood just across the street from me, and I have a new co-worker who just moved into there from PA and seems to like the place. $300,000 might be a stretch for a 3 BR townhome, but I'm admittedly not as familiar with the city's housing market as some of our other Reston members. I would AVOID Fairway Apartments. They are aggressively marketing themselves most likely because the rumors of the complex being razed to make way for another dense mixed-use project have been keeping people away. I wouldn't want to sign a lease there only to move out in a year or so to make way for another project.
The only caveat would be the "good public elementary school" requirement. The 20190 neighborhood is serviced by Lake Anne Elementary, and even though I've always heard Reston's schools were pretty good, people have told me that this particular school is "sub-par." Whether that is justified or just snobbish labeling from the elites isn't something I know yet. I will be at the school this Tuesday evening to participate in an urban planning session for the town, so I will give you some feedback on the interior of the building at that time.
Best of luck, and welcome in advance to Reston!
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Reston area thats Walkable with Good Schools?
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