Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We're thinking of renting in Pimmit Hills to get more space/less money. Right now we're two blocks from the Clarendon Whole Foods. I do a lot of walking around the neighborhood for errands, exercise, fun, with the baby in the stroller. Would that lifestyle be doable in Pimmit Hills? We got by very nicely without a car pre-baby, and still don't drive often, but would like not to be a two car family (and DH would be driving to work if we were in Pimmit).
I live in PH and if you ever visited the area, I can't believe that you are in good faith asking whether you can recreate the Clarendon lifestyle there. I think you know perfectly well that you cannot. PH was not set up to be a high-density walkable area like Clarendon, and this fact is immediately obvious to anyone who ever drove through.
Now on a serious note, PH is walkable in that it has sidewalks and you can walk around the neighborhood and you can walk to its numerous parks. If you live in the part of PH close to Rt 123, you can walk to Safeway Commons, which has a casual restaurant (Lost Dog) and a hair salon. You can also walk to Westgate Elementary. Once Tysons East metro is up, you'll be able to walk to it too. Safeway Commons is set for redevelopment with mixed-use things, but I don't believe these plans are final.
If you live in the part of PH closer to Rt 7, you can walk to Trader Joe's, Caribou Coffee, a library with the park that surrounds it, and across Rt 7 (which has perfectly good crosswalks people use all the time) there is a Whole Foods plaza with a Thai restaurant, a noodle shop, and a deli.
Finally, there are no townhouses or apartment buildings in PH. In fact, it is a rare enclave that has nothing but SFH, no churches, no centers, except an old milk barn (the last remaining milk barn inside the Beltway!) that a neighborhood group is working to preserve and turn into another recreation area.