DC - where to live?
 

Hi all, I will be starting a new job in McLean, VA soon, and I'm looking for a place to live. Here are what I'm looking for, in order of importance. I am young, relatively, and single. I like a good bar and love an honest, non-pretentious restaurant. I do not care much for the club scene. Where would you recommend?

1. Being in a newer, taller building. The newer the better, the taller the better.

2. Proximity to grocery stores and local restaurants. The more dense, the better.

3. Easy commute (i.e. near a metro station).

4. $2500/month for rent max, 1 bed, studio is okay. But cheaper is better.

I have to admit to not understanding why someone would want to live in a tall building, but if that's your thing, you probably want to be in Arlington along the Orange Line corridor (still called that despite the Silver Line also running through there). There are more restaurants around Clarendon and Ballston than, say, Rosslyn, but really the whole area from Rosslyn to Ballston is only a few miles anyway. The other option would be Crystal City, but that is tougher transit-wise because of the infrequency of Blue Line trains.

You are probably talking about $2000 for a 1-bedroom apartment in that area. Crystal City / Pentagon City area is a bit cheaper, but less convenient.

There is also some newer stuff going up around the end of the Silver Line in Reston, but I'm not sure how much of it is open yet.

Keep in mind that in that area "tall" really isn't very -- a couple years ago, a development in Pentagon City had to get a variance for the height limit so it could go up to 22 stories.

In addition to the options listed by mhnadel, the new Silver Line opens up some possibilities in the Tysons Corner area; sites such as this should be helpful. Prices are in the range you're looking for, but height probably won't exceed 10-12 stories. Depending on where in "McLean" you're working, some of them might even be walking distance to work, barely.

Also, keep in mind that you could own a nice 1-2 BR home in the same area and pay well under $2500/mo in mortgage and taxes, but of course that requires having the down payment funds.

Full disclosure: I will soon be selling my 3BR in the area. :p

Thanks, by tall building I mean taller than the average building I can see from my window/balcony. So no it doesn't have to be some skyscraper. Currently I live on the 7th floor (top floor of my building), and all the nearby buildings are shorter, and it's perfectly fine.

Lots of choices popping up. In terms of height, you're looking at some of the new places near Tysons, or Reston or Arlington.

Tysons downside is that its still sort of a ghost town at night. Its going to take some time for it to really develop.

Reston works well (Reston Town Center area) but may skew a bit older and can vary from pretentious to "urban" depending on the time of day. Lots of new $$$ showing off in Reston.

Clarendon is a great choice for someone under 30. Rents are quite high though. Clarendon can be as pretentious or as "dive-ish" as you want to be. I used to live at Whitlows for several years and its never changed. Everything around it has changed....

My final thought although which is close for those who drive would be the Mosaic District in Merrifield. Very fast growing. I don't know much about the rental market there.

Yes, lots of rental choices in Merrifield, some of them an easy walk to the Dunn Loring metro stop, 'though the new "Mosaic District" refers to the area just south of 29 and would therefore be a bit of a hike. Metrorail from Dunn Loring to McLean / Tysons Corner would require a transfer, but a bus runs along Gallows through Merrifield to TC.

It sounds like you're not planning to have a car.

Do you envision yourself going into the District often during evenings and weekends? Is airport convenience a consideration? (How often will you travel and where?)

Thank you all for the recommendations so far, I will do some research on those places.

I do plan to have a car, but I will not commute in it. As someone from Jersey, traffic makes me angry, and I don't think my heart can handle DC traffic. Also, 8mpg in the city.

If there is enough to do in my town, I do not plan to visit DC itself too often. But if not, I wouldn't mind the equivalent of living in Long Island City and taking the subway to Manhattan.

DC airport location is not important, but I will be going to EWR a lot via bus or train. Not having to park my car at wherever the bus/train terminals are in the DC area is a plus. I assume if I'm close to a metro stop this wouldn't be an issue.

As others have mentioned, the area from Rosslyn down to Ballston sounds like it's pretty much exactly what you're looking for. It's fairly dense with a lot of restaurants, stores etc., a lot of high-rise apartment buildings, and it's a pretty quick Metro ride into D.C. and thanks to the Silver line it's now a fairly easy trip to the Tyson's mall complex as well. The area has a big concentration of young professionals working in NoVa and D.C. and that is reflected in the vibe of the place. It's sorta 'urban' but without the urban edge or grittiness.

If you're driving to McLean from McLean/TC/Falls Church/Merrifield, you're not dealing with "DC traffic". Driving from between Rosslyn and Ballston, or Reston, is a somewhat different story and it sounds like you'd be happier Metroing in that case. And, yes, National Airport is convenient to Metro; Dulles Airport, not so much, for a few more years.

I agree with Ber2dca on the plusses of Rosslyn-Ballston; the minus is that you're further from work. Sounds like you're ok with that.

OP, to answer the easy commute question, it would be helpful to know where your employer is. Some of McLean is much harder to access on transit than other areas.

edit:

I'd vote for Clarendon.

Good call. Transit times to DCA, walking to Metro excluded, are under 30 minutes in peak periods, and I've gone from the Clarendon station to IAD via the Wiehle Ave. station in less than 50 minutes. Bonus: You'll be well situated for FT happy hours.

Is Clarendon the same as Courthouse? How come with I google Clarendon Arlington VA, and zoom out, it says Courthouse?

They are a bit different. The Clarendon area has a higher concentration of the bars, restaurants and shops than the others (including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods). The metro map is quite deceiving. In looking at the orange line, Ballston - Virginia Sq - Clarendon - Courthouse - Rosslyn are each about 1/2 mile from each other. In comparison, East Falls Church - Ballston is 2 miles. I think there are two brand new apartment complexes in Courthouse though (by Tupelo Honey Cafe).

When we first lived there, we lived in Crystal City at Camden Potomac Yard. Very convenient to grocery (Harris Teeter next door), DCA, and the Metro (they now have MetroWay bus service which helps getting to the subway), but since it is on the Blue/Yellow Line it wouldn't be as convenient. The nice part is it's "high" at 12 floors and overlooks the airport so you get some great shots of planes. We then moved to Bell Del Ray after that, Del Ray is awesome to live in but again not convenient for you since it's on Blue/Yellow. Definitely visit Del Ray though, it's like an old Southern main street, full of shops and restaurants and seems to be a bit of a hidden gem.

To be honest, I don't know if these neighborhood terms are official or just reflections of what people call an area around a metro stop. If there are official boundaries I wouldn't say you necessarily feel them in any notable way. The boundary between the Orange Line corridor and the more leafy, suburban areas to the North is far more pronounced than any boundaries between the areas on the Metro line.

I live in Reston. Yes, I recommend it. Commute via the silver line to Tyson's. There are upscale condos in Reston Town Center, a long walk or short bus ride from the Weihle station. Mid-to upper scale eateries abound in town center.

Or you could snag the new housing is being built right at the metro station. You could commute by elevator.

If you're a foodie there is a farmer's market in the Weihle station on Wednesday, including Lobster Maine-ia, live lobsters.

Definitely Clarendon. Also as "young and single" you may well want reasonable access to the overwhelming cultural, entertainment, and social opportunities in DC proper, which Clarendon would facilitate than farther out Virginia alternatives. Of course, that's from my perspective of living near Dupont Circle, so I see Clarendon as actually pretty far out of the city!

If I live in Clarendon, do I even need a car? If not, I might just sell it, and free up some funds for maybe buying a condo in the near future instead of renting. If there is a decent grocery store (Whole Food is too expensive, although if it's a local farmer's market or independent grocery store, I would happily pay WF prices there), restaurants, bars, a dry cleaners, and a good tailor near by, I think I will be ok. I will need to occasionally take public transport to EWR, or fly out of IAD.

Why IAD? DCA is closer from all the places under discussion except Reston, and much easier to get to on Metro; UA flies direct DCA-EWR.

IAD for international flights. I would prefer bus or train to EWR instead.

It depends on your usage patterns, but I have friends who sold their cars and get by using Zipcar/car2go along with the Metro.

For a great local alternative to Whole Foods, I'd go to MOM's Organic Market.

Maybe I'll just sell everything and buy one car that has fully depreciated so it can sit in the garage, and I'll take it out on the weekends to ruin the tires.

There's a fairly big Giant on Washington not too far from Clarendon, that'd be the closest 'real' supermarket I can think of.

Don't get too hung up on the distance between Clarendon and Courthouse. The two Metro stops are barely a 10-minute walk from each other on mostly flat ground; it's only when you get east of Courthouse Road and the elevation starts to drop that you incur any serious effort walking or biking to get from one to the other.

If you don't need to drive to work, you can indeed live in that part of Arlington without a car. Beyond Metro and Arlington's ART buses, you've got Zipcar and car2go car sharing (although the latter will only allow trips that start and end in the county when it launches) and also Capital Bikeshare. Meanwhile, Arlington-based taxi companies are predictable and fair, while Uber and Lyft almost always have cars available.

Grocery stores: In addition to Whole Foods, there's a Trader Joe's across an intersection from the Clarendon Metro and multiple convenience stores for the things that WF and TJ's don't stock (like, for some insane reason, tonic water). There's also a great farmers market on Saturday mornings by Courthouse and an okay one Wednesday afternoons in the summer next to the Clarendon Metro.

These two neighborhoods, Clarendon especially, offer an avgeek bonus if you're around during a workday: Anytime there's a flyover of Arlington National Cemetery, the aircraft involved are liable to go right over your head.

Is Ballston as good as Clarendon? The apt prices there are noticeably cheaper, and it will also be closer to work. Not that one extra stop on the Metro matters much.

Ballston has slightly less of an upscale hipster vibe and is a touch more gritty. I don't have the numbers but the demographics probably somewhat reflect that. There's some less upscale apartment complexes in that area especially when you get further away from the amenities. And it really is gradual, the difference is subtle. There's still plenty of dudes in shorts and loafers in Ballston.

But if you can save significantly by living there rather than in Clarendon, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's still nice enough and convenient enough.

Clarendon has been nicer than Ballston for quite some time, but Ballston has gone upscale compared to what it was say ten years ago or twenty years ago. If the building amenities are close to one another and the price per square foot is better, I would consider going with the one that is closer to work.

Most of my friends and family in the area have kept a car while living there, but it's easy enough to get away without keeping a car. For my own stretch of using my places along the Rosslyn-Ballston stretch of the Orange line, I've mostly done that without keeping my own car in my parking spots.

Others have said it all. Being along the Orange Line somewhere in the Clarendon-Court Houseish area is likely your best bet. I'd keep a car; the Metro is just fine for weekday commuting but on weekends gets much less frequent and much more frustrating to use. Reston is also convenient for your work commute but is quite dull for a single, young person. I used to work in the Potomac Yard/Crystal City area. It's pretty dead on weekends/evenings compared to Clarendon, and somewhat less convenient for your commute.

First place I owned was in Ballston. Its a step down from Clarendon but its not bad at all. There is a Harris Teeter right on Glebe so shopping is close.

When I lived there Ballston Mall was starting to get shaky - they had not built Kettler yet. Plenty to do, but not the vibe of Clarendon.

Clarendon is definitely a place for the younger set and for the newly married who are child free!

And that's why I feel old every time I exit the Clarendon Metro on a Friday or Saturday night! :D

Awesome, Clarendon it is. Am I right in saying that closer to Clarendon Blvd and Wilson Blvd (and the metro stations) are better for proximity to shops and restaurants?

Yes.

The stroller count along Clarendon Blvd and Wilson Blvd between Clarendon and Rossyln has risen greatly in the past several years. I've even been seeing some those giant pram type strollers that I so frequently encounter in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. Ten years ago, that would not have been in the picture there.

Great question, somewhat difficult to answer not knowing you...depends an awful lot on your traffic tolerance. I just moved back to (central) NJ from DC metro. I endured the commute from Alexandria/Kingstowne, VA to Rockville, MD and, typically, 31 miles was indeed an angry 45+ minute drive minimum. Not so much due to the minutes or miles, but mostly due to idiotic drivers (ie, when did turn signals become optional? Why oh why block an intersection? 50 mph in the far left/fast lane? and so on and so forth).

As others have mentioned, Arlington, Balston, Clarendon, Reston are all good options. Have you considered the Old Town Alexandria area? It's a rather lively place, on the water, served by King St metro (yellow and blue lines), Amtrak station right there, super close to DCA (way better than PHL and EWR and so easy peasy as far as airports go), and is abundant in apartments, condos, town/row homes, and high rises. Lots of places for nibbles and libations. It is further out, compared to the other options offered, so depends on your commutable tolerance level (a friend of mine, another from the Garden State, lived in OT and commuted to Chantilly every day no problem, but it's where she wanted to be).

Despite the traffic, it is a great place to be. Good luck wherever you land.

Arlington planned for each of the Orange Line stations to have a different vibe, and they have indeed evolved that way. (Here's another discussion thread with some comparisons.)

As mentioned above, each station is about 1/2 mile (10 minute walk) apart.
- Rosslyn: high-rise, high-rent office district, can walk to Georgetown or Kennedy Center
- Court House: leafier residential area, convenience retail (and cinema) in government office complex above station
- Clarendon: lively nightlife and dining hub, lots of daytime retail as well
- Virginia Square: high-density residential and some institutions (Arlington library, George Mason Univ., FDIC)
- Ballston: high-density residential and office, "last stop in the city" before suburbia starts to its west

Locally, Clarendon has a similar social stereotype as Hoboken or Lincoln Park or the Marina -- i.e., full of bro bars. There's more to it, but as others have mentioned, it's pretty overwhelmingly 20-somethings at night.

If you want to save money (maybe $1000) then you can live walking distance from your office. I can give you the rundown of the places around your office if you are interested. I would advise renting a condo rather than from an apartment complex.

You could even find a lower end SFH in McLean proper for $2500/month, noting that McLean is the premier suburb in DC area.

Clarendon and adjacent neighborhoods are very sterile with lots of crappy restaurants. The vibe is awful. Shopping is great, however with a WF, TJ and Pain Quotidien right next to each other. I think the main benefit of Clarendon is being closer to DC, but outside rush hour you can drive from McLean to downtown DC in 15 min. And today there is a metro.

The buildings in the Clarendon are junk (it is a problem that afflicts construction in the US in general) so you will suffer noise from neighbors even if you pay $$$$ for a "luxury" apartment.

I tend to agree, though there are several decent locations in Tysons that would also get my vote.

To each his own, but I think the OP is selling himself and/or the D.C. area short on a lot of topics. I understand wanting to save the environment and not to drive to/from work, but there are lots of areas that I would recommend within a very reasonable (especially by D.C. standards) drive [redacted]. And thinking that he won't go into D.C. much seems somewhat short sighted. Though I did not see the OP indicate his/her age. I'm closer to 50 and have a wife and 3 kids. We don't go into the city a ton at this point in my life, either, but getting there from NoVa (when we go) is pretty easy.

Just my two cents.

If I was in your shoes, I'd move to the new apartments opening up at the Wiehle-Reston East metro station.

This is a great thread about nova, but what about DC proper?