West Springfield and Kingstowne

[Anonymous]

We'd like to buy a new to us house in the next year and are starting to think about neighborhoods. We currently live in the city but are priced out of larger homes in our Capitol Hill neighborhood. We're hoping to find 5beds/3baths with a small yard for at or under $1M. Looking for somewhere family-friendly, diverse (we are a mixed-race family), with decent schools. I don't know if we can find a walkable neighborhood, but I'd like to not have to hop in the car for everything. Finding somewhere within walking distance to a nice park and convenience store would be ideal. One of us will commute to L'Enfant 2x a week and the other will work at home, at least for the next few years. Any thoughts on these two areas? Any other neighborhoods you recommend we start searching? We don't have many friends around here with kids who can give us insights and our neighbors seem very committed to living in the city.

[Anonymous]

The West Springfield pyramid, frankly, ranks very high. If I was home hunting, I would look for Keene Mill ES, West Springfield ES, or Cardinal Forest ES, all which feed into Irving MS and West Springfield HS. West Springfield HS is a nationally ranked high school.

I live near West Springfield HS, and for several years walked to my job from L'Enfant. Just under an hour door to door via the Blue Line.

[Anonymous]

or VRE!!

we choose our house specifically because we could take the Rolling Road VRE (near West Springfield) to L'Enfant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:or VRE!!

we choose our house specifically because we could take the Rolling Road VRE (near West Springfield) to L'Enfant.

+1 for checking out W. Springfield or Burke near VRE if you have a regular schedule for commuting to L'Enfant. And there are lots of multiracial families in any of the areas mentioned.

[Anonymous]

All of the elementary schools that feed into Irving and West Springfield are very good.

[Anonymous]

The Hayfield pyramid won't get much love on this site, but it is solid. Some of the grade schools are better than others. Hayfield Secondary is good. It's a big school, grades 7 through 12, with 2,082 students. But smaller than West Springfield (2,413) or Braddock Secondary (4,332 students), which buys you fewer students in each classroom. Your student would not be housed in a trailer either, like so many other schools in FCPS. The school has the biggest auditorium in FCPS, too. The student body isn't quite as snobby as other FCPS high schools. It has a diverse student body that is to its credit.

Kingstowne is very walkable, you have any basic store you need there, including Wegman's. You are a 10-minute drive from Springfield Towne Center and the three Metro stops, close to Old Town Alexandria, and a hop to I95 and the Beltway.

Just putting in a good word since nobody else might.

[Anonymous]

You'd fit in very well in either pyramid, but you'll have a bit more diversity at Lane or Island Creek Elementary schools. It is very hard to find a single family home for sale in those zones, so definitely be ready to pounce when you see one. I think you'll really like Island Creek's neighborhood, and it comes with an HOA pool (as do the neighborhoods in Kingstowne). Island Creek is walkable to the elementary school.

West Springfield HS is very good. A little older area. Not as many retail amenities. Harder to find sizable SFHs.

[Anonymous]

Here are two homes that go to Island Creek Elementary. I know these areas well, OP. You will enjoy living in this area with a mixed family, but just the access and ease of living -- getting to school, getting groceries, going to the gym. Going for a walk. Taking the kids to soccer. Etc. It's very convenient.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/7737-Island-Creek-Ct-22315/home/9807373

and

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/6802-Morning-Brook-Ter-22315/home/9842067

Both will go quickly.

[Anonymous]

We lived near Island Creek for several years and it’s where we wanted to buy, but there was too much competition and very, very little on the market there, so we ended up over in MD. It’s a great neighborhood, but like PP said just be ready to pounce. I don’t know about 5 bedrooms, though. Does that even exist there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are two homes that go to Island Creek Elementary. I know these areas well, OP. You will enjoy living in this area with a mixed family, but just the access and ease of living -- getting to school, getting groceries, going to the gym. Going for a walk. Taking the kids to soccer. Etc. It's very convenient.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/7737-Island-Creek-Ct-22315/home/9807373

and

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/6802-Morning-Brook-Ter-22315/home/9842067

Both will go quickly.

OP here. Thank you. Either of these houses would be perfect. With that much space, we can make 2 office spaces and wouldn't need the extra 5th bedroom. You were right that they'd go fast. We checked out the open house for the 1st one this past weekend and it was under contract the next day. We are working on getting our things in order so we can be prepared to act quickly next time. We also drove around Burke over the weekend just to see what it was like and while lovely, the schools aren't as diverse as we'd like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are two homes that go to Island Creek Elementary. I know these areas well, OP. You will enjoy living in this area with a mixed family, but just the access and ease of living -- getting to school, getting groceries, going to the gym. Going for a walk. Taking the kids to soccer. Etc. It's very convenient.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/7737-Island-Creek-Ct-22315/home/9807373

and

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/6802-Morning-Brook-Ter-22315/home/9842067

Both will go quickly.

OP here. Thank you. Either of these houses would be perfect. With that much space, we can make 2 office spaces and wouldn't need the extra 5th bedroom. You were right that they'd go fast. We checked out the open house for the 1st one this past weekend and it was under contract the next day. We are working on getting our things in order so we can be prepared to act quickly next time. We also drove around Burke over the weekend just to see what it was like and while lovely, the schools aren't as diverse as we'd like.

PP here who posted those homes. I lived in Ktowne/Island Creek for 28 yrs in 3 different homes. I know the area well, so post again if you have any questions. SFHs are in limited supply, but there will be a few more this season, no doubt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Hayfield pyramid won't get much love on this site, but it is solid. Some of the grade schools are better than others. Hayfield Secondary is good. It's a big school, grades 7 through 12, with 2,082 students. But smaller than West Springfield (2,413) or Braddock Secondary (4,332 students), which buys you fewer students in each classroom. Your student would not be housed in a trailer either, like so many other schools in FCPS. The school has the biggest auditorium in FCPS, too. The student body isn't quite as snobby as other FCPS high schools. It has a diverse student body that is to its credit.

Kingstowne is very walkable, you have any basic store you need there, including Wegman's. You are a 10-minute drive from Springfield Towne Center and the three Metro stops, close to Old Town Alexandria, and a hop to I95 and the Beltway.

Just putting in a good word since nobody else might.

Just to be clear, you appear to be comparing the 9-12 enrollment at Hayfield Secondary (2082 in December 2021) with the 9-12 enrollment at West Springfield High (2541 in December 2021) and the 7-12 enrollment at Lake Braddock Secondary (4328 in December 2021). The 7-12 enrollment at Hayfield Secondary in December 2021 was 3055 students and the 9-12 enrollment at Lake Braddock in December 2021 was 2789 students.

Agree that Hayfield has less overcrowding than other schools - believe that has been the case ever since South County opened in 2005.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Hayfield pyramid won't get much love on this site, but it is solid. Some of the grade schools are better than others. Hayfield Secondary is good. It's a big school, grades 7 through 12, with 2,082 students. But smaller than West Springfield (2,413) or Braddock Secondary (4,332 students), which buys you fewer students in each classroom. Your student would not be housed in a trailer either, like so many other schools in FCPS. The school has the biggest auditorium in FCPS, too. The student body isn't quite as snobby as other FCPS high schools. It has a diverse student body that is to its credit.

Kingstowne is very walkable, you have any basic store you need there, including Wegman's. You are a 10-minute drive from Springfield Towne Center and the three Metro stops, close to Old Town Alexandria, and a hop to I95 and the Beltway.

Just putting in a good word since nobody else might.

I am here to say agree with you. We just moved to Hayfield Farms. Great neighborhood for kids, sidewalks everywhere for walking and biking, central playground, community pool only for the neighborhood and directly behind the elementary school. It will take a little longer to drive place, is a little bit of a good restaurant desert (although House of Dynasty is across the street) BUT having the perfect neighborhood for kids to grow up in makes it worth it.

[Anonymous]

People used to slug to work in the west Springfield area. I’ve been working from home since March 2020 with no plans to returns and I’m honestly not sure of the slug status right now but maybe someone else does and can update it here.