"New Town" Development - Williamsburg, VA (Newport News, Hampton: real estate, condos)

[jmadz]

Hello all,

My wife and I are considering moving back to the Hampton Roads area. Currently we're in the Charlotte, NC region. Pretty familiar w/ most of Hampton Roads, both Peninsula & Southside, although not so much w/ Williamsburg. Of course we're well aware of the touristy stuff, outlets, golf courses etc, but we don't know much about actually LIVING there. We're looking into buying a townhome in the new "NewTown" development in Williamsburg.

My wife's company may be opening a finaincial services branch in the commercial section of the development. She will be the front runner for the managing the new location. It will be great for her to walk to work and walk home in the afternoon for lunch and taking the dogs out.

We're in our late 20's to early 30's, no kids and hate the yard work of our current suburban house. We will like the townhome's proximity to future nightlife, movies, concerts etc. This is a new trend in todays development - New Urbanism. Although I know people take great pride in their weekend yard duties, we would rather spend our weekends on day trips to visit relatives, other cities, concerts, etc.... we're thinking Newtown will be great at satisfying our lifestyle.

I wanted to ask you folks if you think this place can truly succeed in Williamsburg. Williamsburg already has a certain cache' to it which drives up home values - but this place is expensive on top of that (By Hampton Roads standards). We will be able to afford it and we're not looking at our home as a financial "investment" to get rich - but we also don't want to LOSE $$ in the long run. However we're well aware we can get more home/single family home, etc for the same price outside of Williamsburg. My wife has completly ruled out living in Newport News/Hampton btw.

1) Is New Town truly viable in a town w/ not much buisness/industry other than tourism?

2) With the housing market experiencing a slowdown, would it be prudent to view this as a good time to look into upgrades or incentives to purchase in New Town?

3) What is the surrounding area like (crime, schools, overall reputation, etc) Not Williamsburg the city - but the immediate surrounding area bordering the New Town development.

4) Is this near "Grove's Place" that I keep seeing one of the poster's mentioning?

I know its long winded - but any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced!!

[Lookingforasafehome]

Its not near Grove, so don't worry about it, I happen to LIKE the grove area myself as it is more laid back, much less expensive, and spacious...but that is me. I for one, would not like to live in New Towne...btw there are crime related problems in those areas too, I used to live in one, so I know.

Soon all of Williamsburg will be muliticultural anyhow (aside from those snobby gated communities) so its something that some of us will have to get "used too". I prefer living in a blended community, as I feel more at home and I really do not like "pretenious people" anyhow.

Tons of housing is going up in Williamsburg and I do think all of this towns housing, no matter where you live in this area, will keep increasing, as I had mentioned our worse areas are better than most nice areas that surround us. Good luck with New town, if you like that kind of atmossphere, then your do well, I for one, am much more laid back and prefer more open spaces.

[GOODTOGO]

Hello:

Have been to the Ford's Colony development and it is very well done but my question is "can one get anything decent in the $300-400 range" and, have some decent property? Thanks for any inputs....

[jmadz]

Williamsburg,
Thanks for your response. I've been going through all of the Williamsburg threads trying to research my questions from earlier. I've read many of your posts and I can tell you're very proud of your neighborhood. I hope my post didn't read as a detraction from Grove's Place. After reading your posts I was hoping NewTown was close to Grove's Place. Grove's Place sounds nice. I’ve lived in Hampton Roads before, but as stated earlier – I don’t know much about Williamsburg. The only opinion I had before was that it was a sleepy tourist town, that is known for its wealthy retirees, rich history, William & Mary and outlet malls. Never seemed like a place where young professionals would reside, but New Town seems like the kind of development to attract that demographic. Its not quite the “Urban center” of a dynamic city – but in Williamsburg terms its as close to a “Downtown” as you can get… your thoughts?

In your opinion, what is the reputation of the immediate area surrounding New Town? Do you think it’s pretentious? Is it the same as a not-so-diverse gated community? If possible, what is your opinion on my questions #1-3?

Sorry for the “20-Questions” game, but you seem to be the poster that has the most insight into Williamsburg.

Thanks for your help!

[GradVT06]

I have been to New Town several times. It looks very modern and very nice. It truly does have a small town, everything you need is there kinda feel. The area still is under construction. The condos are starting in the mid $250's I believe, and the townhomes start just under $400, but there are very few that will be that price and most are going to be in the $450-$600 range, and I belive having a garage will cost more, but not 100%. To me, it's very neat and if I worked in Williamsburg and had the money, I might go for it. However, much of it is not complete yet. Several stores and a lot of the townhomes and condos are still under construction. Taken from write-ins to the local newspaper, many of the employees of the shops are already complaining of the parking problems- and because it's not finished, it's not a very busy area yet. As it stands, there's barely enough parking for employees, much less customers. Undoubtedly, this will impact the residents- some will have people illegally parking and there will probably be too much traffic.

I just moved back to Williamsburg after living there from 1992 to 2001 until going to college, and just moved back w/ my wife. We drove to Newport News today on 143/Jefferson, and came back on 60, right through the Grove area I had been discussing w/ Williamsburg on other posts. Despite Williamsburg's claims (sorry Williamsburg! ), the area is still run-down, trashy, poor, old, plain bad-looking. Every building was rundown, looked abandoned, and looked like a landfill with trash and random debris from furniture to car parts littering homes and business places a like. It looks like there may be a new building or two, and a new townhome place was being built- but it's only just starting to go up. I'm sorry, but crime and poverty is still much worse in that area, and most of the rest of Williamsburg looks better. After driving through there today, we have ruled that area out of our list as a place to consider. The closer in towards Williamsburg you get the better, but out by James River school it's exactly the same- stay away is my opinion.

Education and crime wouldn't be a problem where New Town is. After recently graduating college and getting married, my wife and I won't be able to afford much in this town in a year or so when we are planning to buy, so we've started to look at real estate. It is beginning to slow a little. I would not pay the $$$ to live in New Town. For $250 you cannot buy a whole lot, so if you want a condo, it's something to consider- but for the about $500 that the town homes are going to cost- you could live almost anywhere in Williamsburg in nearly every development/community in a very large and new home. For somewhere in between, you could get a very nice house in most areas.

New Town would be a nice place to live if you would want to be able to walk to everywhere that's there and not leave much, don't mind all the people/traffic there will be, and don't want to sell soon. I think anything less than 5-7 years and you'd lose money big time. Hope it helps.

[kcrossley]

Exactly where is the grove area in relation to Williamsburg?

[htlong]

the grove is east of busch gardens on rt 60, what i would like to know is where is "new town" located. often due to traffic on i-64 i take either rt 143 or rt 60 to news

[GradVT06]

right, it's a little bit past busch gardens and a kingsmill entrance on, east on 60.

New Town is at the intersection of Monticello and either Longhill or Ironbound, can't remember which. Across the street from the 'new' courthouse/post office/ AVI visoin center.

[kcrossley]

So the grove is just beyond Kingsmill? I thought that area was kinda upscale.

[GradVT06]

There are several entrances to Kingsmill. It is a very nice area, but if you go just a mile or two past the entrance on 60, it's the complete opposite. The areas around another entrance on 199 is nicer. Not sure about any other entrances. The area referred to as "Grove" is just beyond the trances to Kingsmill, and the entrance to Busch Gardens, but no more than a mile or so.