Where to live in NOVA?? Commute to Bethesda and Alexandria

[metclubin]

Hey Vabruin,

I have heard about the Kingstowne area and its pretty good. Since you live in that area, do you know of any new construction of condos/townhouses around that area. Please let me know.

Thanks,
Met

[Adrian71]

Originally Posted by metclubin

Also, will checkout Alexandria Landmark. What does that mean exactly? Is it Alexandria City? Does it come in Fairfax county or is it like Falls Church City and Fairfax city which are treated differently although they come in Fairfax county?

The Landmark area is in western Alexandria, within the city limits. There are parts of what's considered the Alexandria area that are actually in Fairfax County, like where my wife and I live, about a mile south of the Beltway just off Route 1. We're in Fairfax County but have an Alexandria address. But Alexandria "proper" is an independent city that doesn't fall inside any county at all. Just the opposite of Arlington, which is a county with no official cities! It gets confusing.

But yes, Landmark is a part of Alexandria city. Nice, big mall there if you like shopping. But the traffic is pretty bad where 395 meets up with Duke Street.

[US1]

If you are still considering it, I would highly advise avoiding choice #3. As the name implies, I live south on Route 1 and am counting the seconds until I can move. 24 hours a day, driving on Route 1 is a nightmare. Somebody somewhere is either leaving work or going to work and it is essentially always rush hour. When driving during the 9-5 rush hour it is even hard to cut over to the GW Parkway since you have to turn left without a light and traffic gets backed up.

[metclubin]

I checked out #2 and #3 of my options. #3 is definately out of question because of Rt 1 and the area looked a little shady.

We liked the #2 option zip code 22312. Its less then 2 miles from Van Dorn Metro. The area seemed nice but I felt a little shady around the Van Dorn Plaza shopping complex, I guess mainly due to a lot of cheap renting apartments on Edsall Rd.

Sullivan Place is built by Ryan Homes and the community looked nice, very close to I-395 and beltway.

How do you guys feel about the Edsall Rd in general. It does have pockets of shadiness. PLease comment.

[Yankeesfan]

Stay away from the apartments; they seem to have gang issues. I don't know much about the rest of the area but some other people commented favorably on some of the neighborhoods there on another recent thread, so perhaps they'll chime in.

Kingstowne is nice and convenient to the Blue Line. The new construction projects underway are these (single-family homes $800,000 +):

Washington DC Home Builder. New Homes in Alexandria, Ashburn, Fairfax (http://www.richmondamerican.com/Shop+and+Buy/View+Community.htm?mr=Northern%20Virginia&Type=Com munity&cm=1143&ID=1143 - broken link)

Craftmark Homes (http://www.craftmarkhomes.com/neighborhood_detail.php?n_id=27 - broken link)

Not aware of anything smaller/less expensive being built in Kingstowne.