New in FortBelvoir Area, Im looking.... (Richmond, Alexandria: apartments, rent, condos)

[chachy621]

Can You recommend me a good area, with excellent schools and safe places near to Fort Belvoir..we looking apartments, condos o townhome for no more a $2000 a months... Thanks for your help

[FindingZen]

Consider the Kingstowne and Belle Haven communities, both in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County (not to be confused with the City of Alexandria).

Kingstowne is a relatively new area of townhomes, condos and apartments in the midst of upper-midscale retail located just a few miles west of Fort Belvoir via Van Dorn Street (Rt. 613).

Belle Haven is an older community of mostly SFHs but there is a section near the small shopping center that features condos and apartments. It's a few miles north of Ft. Belvoir via either Richmond Highway (Rt.1) and/or the George Washington Parkway.

The Route 1 corridor itself, which runs through Ft. Belvoir has sprouted a lot of midscale retail as it remakes itself from its unpopular past. I regret that for your preferences I cannot strongly recommend an apartment or condo complex along this area (except perhaps towards the northern end although the high-end high-rises there may be out of your price range). If you can somehow rent a home in the Stratford Landing neighborhood, your kids will recieve a top-notch education in the namesake elementary school. The concept of "bad" schools in Fairfax County is a relative term that is discussed regularly on this forum. The less desirable schools tend to be socioeconomically diverse and include non-native English speakers but are not known for the lack of resources and discipline found, unfortunately, in many larger cities.

[kevbros]

I concur with the idea to look north of Belvoir. There are some good neighborhoods not too far away and you will have more of a reverse commute. Stay away from the Route 1 corridor. There are some cheaper rents there, but for good reason.

Most of the 22307 neighborhoods close to the river i.e. Belle Haven, Stratford, Waynewood, Villamay, Wellington, WestGrove, and Collingwood are all great, but they can all be expensive. There are few apts and condos in these areas. Look there first, you might get lucky. But in reality, there will be more choices in your price range around Kingstowne.
As TONE509 hinted, if you stay in Fairfax County, the schools will never be that bad - but people around here are super competitive, and even the slightest suggestion that one neighborhood school might be better than another will start a thread a mile long! Some neighborhood schools have specialty programs that you might consider such as foreign language immersion, but other than that, the schools reflect the diversity of the neighborhoods and are generally good.

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by kevbros

Stay away from the Route 1 corridor. There are some cheaper rents there, but for good reason.

This is extremely good advice. Kevbros is not kidding

[LVMYDACH]

I personally think Kingstowne would be an ideal location. It's not that far from Ft Belvoir, relatively new upcoming area, new shopping centers, has a new large movie theater, great places to eat, and Fairfax County schools (very good). Ideal place for a family! I agree with others not to consider the Rt 1 area close to Ft Belvoir.

[chachy621]

thanks for the advice everyone.

[irisheyes13]

I am no expert on the area but just an FYI which we did not realize until we started working with our realtor when we moved to the area. Kingstowne is a large planned community in Alexandria (FairFax County not city) but some folks refer to the entire area as Kingstowne. The general area is zip code 22315 and when we first looked at homes, I was confused because some homes would be listed as Kingstowne but they wer enot in Kingstowne proper which has ammenitites etc. I don't think you can go wrong in zip code 22315 which also includes another large planned community very close to Belvoir (Island Creek) and other neighborhoods as well.