Gallows Road area (Reston, Vienna, Falls Church: for sale, rentals, buying)

[17thAndK]

We are a professional couple who have been based in DC, but want to follow some new opportunities in the Tysons area. Ultimately, I think we will want an SFH, but we want to rent first to get the lay of the land. We have seen two properties off of Galllows Road between Tysons and the Dunn Loring Metro. The area seems nice and convenient. No kids, so schools don't matter. Any unseen downsides we should be aware of? Thanks for any tips.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by 17thAndK

We have seen two properties off of Galllows Road between Tysons and the Dunn Loring Metro. The area seems nice and convenient. No kids, so schools don't matter. Any unseen downsides we should be aware of?

1. Heavy traffic.
2. Possibility that the properties are for sale to a developer which would tear them down and build an office building. Check the lease for a termination clause.

[Fallout Zone]

I don't think there should be any problems. I haven't found Gallows in that location to be too awful traffic-wise, but maybe I've missed the heavy times.

[17thAndK]

Yes, we've seen and heard the traffic. I think we could put up with it as long as we were not right on Gallows Road. Haven't gotten to the point of looking at leases yet. The area seems recently developed, so sudden high-rises seem unlikely. It always pays to read the fine print though. Thanks.

[PK12]

Traffic is not all that overbearing. Generally speaking it's a great area, Mosaic District in the vicinity is really nice

[Old Guard]

I think it could be a good area but I am going to list some things off the top of my head:

• Not a bad area.
• Even though you are not on Gallows make sure you are not on a cut through street. Visit during rush hour.
• Check parking out early in the morning on Sunday or Saturday and late at night any night if the think there will be a problem with parking.
• Look at alternatives if possible. I am really fond of Falls Church City now but would also consider going further up Gallows or 29 as well.
• I like Mosaic but it is not as good as Reston Town Center IMHO. They messed up the design and it does not live up to what it could have been.
• If you move here get to know 29, 50 and the Gallows rd 495 interchange.

[17thAndK]

Having been based in the District to this point, we know only too well the importance of parking, and frankly, enough is enough. What we've been looking at so far has been TH and SFH rentals with at least two off-street spaces! Haven't seen actual rush hour traffic on Gallows Road yet, but I drove it from Tysons down to 236 and back yesterday. It took a while, but there's a lot along the way. Had lunch at Matchbox in the Mosaic District. It was nice and there was a lot of foot traffic going on at the time. I was impressed. We might expand our search area a little, but what we've seen is convenient to Tysons, Metro, and the Mosaic District, while being only a short drive away from Falls Church and Vienna. As long as there are no horrible surprises lingering out there, I think we might be onto something.

[Old Guard]

I honestly just have never spent much time in that area. That is not saying it is bad at all. I think it would be a good area and getting better as long as you get your parking and are aware of traffic.

Once you move there you will find ways around the traffic for the most part anyway.

But be aware that Christmas Traffic in the Tysons area is a bear and totally its own animal. I worked right outside of Tysons and it was a buzzkill to say the least.

Good luck.

[yolli71]

Originally Posted by 17thAndK

Having been based in the District to this point, we know only too well the importance of parking, and frankly, enough is enough. What we've been looking at so far has been TH and SFH rentals with at least two off-street spaces! Haven't seen actual rush hour traffic on Gallows Road yet, but I drove it from Tysons down to 236 and back yesterday. It took a while, but there's a lot along the way. Had lunch at Matchbox in the Mosaic District. It was nice and there was a lot of foot traffic going on at the time. I was impressed. We might expand our search area a little, but what we've seen is convenient to Tysons, Metro, and the Mosaic District, while being only a short drive away from Falls Church and Vienna. As long as there are no horrible surprises lingering out there, I think we might be onto something.

I love that area. We live up the road off Lee Highway and Cedar Lane. Dunn Loring is really nice and is so convenient to so many things (as you mentioned). The new Dunn Loring metro area has been built up really nicely as well. I don't think the traffic is any worse than anywhere else in the DC metro area to be honest.

[17thAndK]

Just to follow up a bit, we ended up in a nice rental SFH that's just a few blocks further west of Gallows Road than where we had started out looking. I've been living here and schlepping boxes out from DC the past couple of weeks. The wife's job switch is set for the first week in November, so she'll be joining me in suburban bliss here pretty soon. She's still a little antsy over it, but I suspect the change from a 5-day to a 3-day work-week will grow on her pretty quickly, particularly with the holidays coming up. The area itself has so far proven to be even better than advertised. As suggested, there are some traffic issues at some hours of the day, but overall, they are minor. And we have ended up close to Tysons, the Metro, Mosaic, Vienna, and so much other stuff. It's been no problem to go get things when a need arises, and the number of nice restaurants that are within easy reach is particularly impressive. Downtown, we had our list of favorite places to go, but I think the list will soon be a good deal longer in these parts! Anyway, it's all so-far-so-good to this point. We're excited about it and looking forward to exploring further and getting a deeper feel for the area. Maybe even buying out here some day soon. And that's our story for now. Thanks for the earlier input that helped confirm that we were indeed on the right track!