Reston is similar to Rockville? (Fairfax, Vienna: middle-class, 2013, condos)

[Ooo]

Workplace would be a similar drive either way.

Reston & Rockville seem like similar cities? Any significant difference between the two?

I have wife and kids, and prefer some town center, and not unreasonable prices. Both seem to qualify. We'd also prefer restaurants, some walkability if possible, while being safe for kids as well.

Thanks in advance.

[Carlingtonian]

They both start with "R," but that's about it.

Rockville is much older--a farm town that morphed into suburbia in the '50s and has grown since. Reston was a planned community and I believe only dates to the '60s. Reston also I think has more townhouses, whereas R'ville has more SFHs. I think of Reston as having more young people and being more upper-middle-class, vs. Rockville, which is kind of downscale in a lot of areas.

Rockville I think of as being older whites who bought their '50s ranch homes new, along with lots of Hispanics, plus a smattering of aspring yuppies in the THs and condos along R'ville Pike. Reston I think of--could be wrong--being half aspiring yuppies and half young middle-class families. Rockville also has one of the few recognizable Jewish communities in the DC region.

And of course, their being in different states also makes them different in things like taxes and political bent.

Rockville, while being just as far from DC by car, is at least on the Metro (Red Line), whereas Reston is not on the Metro at all. (It's going to be on the Silver Line, but the latter is not built yet.)

[Nate_VA]

Originally Posted by Ooo

Workplace would be a similar drive either way.

Reston & Rockville seem like similar cities? Any significant difference between the two?

I have wife and kids, and prefer some town center, and not unreasonable prices. Both seem to qualify. We'd also prefer restaurants, some walkability if possible, while being safe for kids as well.

Thanks in advance.

Will you be working in MD, VA or DC? I would not want to make a regular commute across the American Legion Bridge. The Silver Line is scheduled to begin service to Reston in Dec 2013.

Reston has the whole gammut of housing and residents. Some surper rich, some lower middle class. Most middle class. The Reston Town Center is wonderful, and is a big draw on the weekends.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by Nate_VA

Will you be working in MD, VA or DC? I would not want to make a regular commute across the American Legion Bridge. The Silver Line is scheduled to begin service to Reston in Dec 2013.

Reston has the whole gammut of housing and residents. Some surper rich, some lower middle class. Most middle class. The Reston Town Center is wonderful, and is a big draw on the weekends.

Only to Wielhe (not Reston TC), will be about 2018 maybe 2019 before Reston TC, and by that I mean Sunset Hills, gets a metro stop, this is important because most reston residents will need to drive to the wielhe station, meaning it will be a fight for parking spaces just like Vienna Metro is until the second phase.

[NOVAEER]

Columbia, not Rockville, seems to be the Maryland city most similar to Reston.

[Alicia Bradley]

I wasn't terribly impressed with Rockville when I visited back in '06.. I did think the 'old part' was cool (much cooler than any part of Reston.. though I do like Lake Anne), and I was impressed/surprised that they had an Anthropologie on the Rockville Pike way back then. Now that Anthropologie has sold out and is trying to open as many locations as possible, it's not such a big deal, but it was back then. And the veggie lasagna from the (now closed) eatZi's (gourmet grocer out of Dallas, TX) was really good, but the staff was strangely rude. Probably because (and I didn't know this at the time) they knew they'd all be losing their jobs in a week or so.

[BMOCCC]

Reston Town Center is quite nice. Moderator Cut Rockville used to have a terribly designed downtown (some cement jungle out of the '60s). They have torn that down, but I don't know what downtown is like now.

You will also want to consider that income taxes are higher in Maryland. The state is in a desperate condition financially and is constantly looking to raise taxes. You may like or dislike the fact that Maryland allows in state tuition for illegal immigrants and may legalize gay marriage. Northern Virginia is quite liberal too, but not nearly to the degree. Also, Virginia has balanced budget requirements for the localities, and the NOVA governments (Fairfax County in this case) is quite sound and doing well.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by NOVAEER

Columbia, not Rockville, seems to be the Maryland city most similar to Reston.

Yes, Columbia would be a much closer match to Reston than Rockville. It too is a planned community with lots of green space and "clusters" connected by paths and walks in addition to roads. They both date from the 60's and while Columbia is very nice and now has many more inhabitants than Reston, it is even futher away from DC -- more a suburb of Baltimore, actually.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by BMOCCC

Rockville used to have a terribly designed downtown (some cement jungle out of the '60s). They have torn that down, but I don't know what downtown is like now.

I meant specifically the older (pre-WWII) residential neighborhoods. Reston doesn't have any of those.

But the cement jungle out of the '60s that they've torn down sounds absolutely bizarre, in an oddly intriguing sort of way!

[michgc]

Hmmm...I'll go with the others that I've always likened Columbia to Reston. I know Rockville pretty well. I lived in Rockville for several years as well as nearby Bethesda. I also worked in Rockville. Rockville seems more varied to me than Reston, as in there are many different parts of Rockville that are dissimilar from each other.

-The "North Bethesda" part of Rockville, where I lived, around Tuckerman Lane is quite nice. It's near the Grosvenor Metro and is a quick hop into downtown Bethesda for nightlife. The schools are good, and it's quite upscale. The White Flint area which is there is supposedly going to be built into a Town Center concept. Probably a good idea to check on the Maryland board for updates on that.

-The "downtown" Rockville part near the courthouse has apparently been all redone with a new town center. Perhaps that's the part that reminds you of the Reston Town Center area? I worked very close to there, but left before the Town Center was built. It was definitely an up and coming area when I left. And I always loved the Victorian houses near the downtown.

-There are some older parts of Rockville that are somewhat less upscale and less expensive. The area around Boiling Brook Parkway comes to mind as does the Twinbrook Metro area. That area tends to attract a lot of recent lower-income immigrants.

-The area around Shady Grove is a lot of offices and the planned community of King Farm, which is very nice. This is getting close to Gaithersburg.

-Then there are neighborhoods that seem far off the beaten path to me like Flower Valley. I am not as familiar with that area.

-Rockville Pike (Route 355) is, of course, the main thoroughfare through Rockville. It is crowded ALL THE TIME. It is shoppoing center after shopping center and is what I consider to be the worst type of sprawl. Even though you are never far from shopping, it could take long to get to where you want to go because of the traffic. (Not that NoVA is much better, mind you.)

Reston does not seem to have as many "parts" to it. There is the Town Center which is the center of Reston and there's North Reston which tends to be more expensive and South Reston which tends to be older and less expensive. All of Reston is a carefully planned community full of walking paths, tons of trees, and hidden shopping centers. Those who live in Reston can elaborate on more specific aspects of Reston.