Old reston ave (Arlington, Centreville, Chantilly: real estate, apartment complexes, renting)

[arsraj87]

Can you pls give us your opinion about OLD RESTON AVE, zip 20190 for a young family with a 3 year old.

Also Old trail road just north of 673.

Thanks

[JfromReston]

I don't know the Old Reston Ave neighborhood very well but I think that the Old Trail neighborhood would be better. It has pool with a huge slide and great access to the trails in the Walker Nature Center.

[SteelCityRising]

I live literally next-door to Old Reston Avenue, and I don't think this would be a terrible neighborhood at all in which to raise a family. You're within walking distance to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail (biking, roller-blading, running/jogging, dog-walking, etc.), Reston Town Center (upscale stores, restaurants, movie theater, skating rink, concerts, farmers' market, festivals, etc.), and are in a very easy spot for commuting---Route 7100 (Fairfax County Parkway), Route 7 (Leesburg Pike), Route 606 (Baron Cameron Avenue/Elden Street), Reston Parkway, and the Dulles Toll Road (Route 267) are all within a five-minute drive. A few major shopping centers are nearby, and for groceries you are near Harris Teeter, Whole Foods, Giant, Trader Joe's, Safeway (Herndon), and probably a store I'm forgetting. There's also a Home Depot, YMCA, Target, Chick-Fil-A, Carrabba's, Macaroni Grill, and other conveniences within a five-minute radius.

One downside to this neighborhood would be that it can be very difficult to turn left from Old Reston Avenue to Temporary Road (top of the hill) during peak hours. Ironically a friend of mine lives in Parc Reston, across the street from this intersection, and I'm leaving in a few moments to go pick him up to go work out together. I'll let you know how much of a pain it is to turn left out of his parking lot onto Temporary Road. As Reston continues its rapid growth (we now have around 65,000 residents with more coming each day), roads are NOT being expanded, which means that essentially from 4:45 to 6 PM or so traffic is at a dead standstill trying to head south out of Reston (towards Chantilly/Centreville) as all of the workers here try to get home via Reston Parkway or Fairfax County Parkway. I'm an advocate of a new parallel road (and with the moronic street names here it probably would end up being called "Parallel Road") being built elsewhere between Reston Parkway and North Shore Drive to ease congestion issues along Temporary Road (which will only worsen with more mixed-use high-rise plans for the area, such as on the Fairway Apartments site near my own current home).

It is really a very safe area. During some "down time" at work earlier I did some online crime research into this immediate neighborhood and found no violent crime incidents since I've moved here in May 2009. There have been the run-of-the-mill petty crimes---vandalism, vehicle tampering, noise complaints, smash-and-grabs from cars, etc. on a regular basis, but for a community as large as Reston crime is amazingly low. I also read about the gang-related issues that have occurred over the past couple of years in South Reston (south of 267), but even then I also read that the gang violence has decreased by HALF since 2008.

I may not personally "adore" Reston in the same sense that some of the old-timers here do (because I hate the suburbs), but that doesn't mean I still wouldn't recommend it as a nice place to live for others. Also bear in mind though that if you are PURCHASING here property values (and the population) are likely to escalate considerably in about five years when Reston gets its new Metrorail line. I would say if anyone wanted to speculate on real estate Reston will be a hotter market soon, so keep your eyes open. If renting though (as I am), this might be a bummer if all of the complexes decide to jack rents through the roof to welcome a new wave of yuppies into Reston. I'm hoping I'll be "grandfathered" in and won't be hit with this huge whammy because let's face it---the reason why MOST young professionals who live in Reston live here is beause they can't afford anything closer to the District. As soon as rents here rise to only marginally less than Arlington you'll see a mass OUT-migration of people from Reston closer to the Beltway.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

One downside to this neighborhood would be that it can be very difficult to turn left from Old Reston Avenue to Temporary Road (top of the hill) during peak hours. Ironically a friend of mine lives in Parc Reston, across the street from this intersection, and I'm leaving in a few moments to go pick him up to go work out together. I'll let you know how much of a pain it is to turn left out of his parking lot onto Temporary Road.

It was a bear to pull left out of Parc Reston today around 5:30 PM onto Temporary Road. Not only do you have to worry about both lanes of Temporary Road being clear, but then you ALSO have to watch out for the people turning left from Old Reston Avenue in front of you who don't wait their turn. A traffic signal is sorely needed here, and I'll bring that up soon.

[arsraj87]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, it really helps.

especially ScranBarre

[lchoro]

Your other location is at Glade & Soapstone. You should be able to walk to the kids playground and tennis courts next to the Glade Pool. There's also a lot of paths along Glade, the Walker trail, and towards Lawyers Rd (673) on Soapstone. There are probably a lot more kids at this location than at Old Reston Ave. The high-rises on Old Reston Ave tends to be full of empty nesters and young adults. The Sycamores is the only one of the three apartment complexes that are family-oriented.

[anonymous703]

I actually live off of Old Reston Ave. ScranBarre is right on everything he says factually (and there's a Shopper's Warehouse in Herndon and a Wegmans in Dulles for groceries too) and probably right about his speculation on what will happen when the metro comes to the Dulles tech corridor.