Moving to DC area soon. Will you please help me find a bike friendly neighborhood?

[Tania]

I’m not familiar enough with Alexandria to comment on Del Ray but anything near Ballston, Clarendon, Courthouse, Rosslyn neighborhoods would work well for you (although again, rent for a 1br is going to be hitting your $2k ceiling – especially if you’re walking distance to a metro stop). You’ve got metro stops on the orange/silver/blue lines, restaurants, bars, organic markets, farmers markets, lots of bike lanes and then the Custis trail (multi-use paved trail) to bike into the city.

I’ve thought about moving in a little closer into one of these neighborhoods but…I’m just too lazy to pack up all my stuff and move. Plus, I like my longer commute, it helps me on my mileage goals.

I bet you could find a place in Capitol Hill for that rent too – again, maybe not top of the line, but decently liveable.

[lordofthemark]

The only potential issue with Del Ray is that it does not have its own metro station. BUT

1. The Braddock Road metro station is walking distance from the southern end of Del Ray.
2. All of Del Ray is walking distance to the Braddock Road metro, if you really love to walk
3. There is extensive bus service in Del Ray to several metro stations, I believe.

If you are going to be mainly biking and only using metro occasionally, I would not pay the premium for being really close to a metro station.

[Tim Kelley]

Glad you made your way over here from our FB page. Check out that Comfort Map I was telling you about too!

[jorgsofi]

Thank you everyone for all your great input! I now have a clearer idea of bike friendly neighborhoods in Alexandria and in Arlington that I might want to consider.

Any feedback on bike friendly neighborhoods in DC proper? Criteria:

very bike friendly
very walkable
relatively safe
relatively quiet
Metro station nearby
healthy, relatively inexpensive places to eat nearby
possible to find 1BR’s for less than $2,000/month

Also, I’ve been looking on Craigslist for listings in all the great places you’ve suggested, but I’m not finding many listings, even above my price ceiling. Any ideas on what are some of the best ways to look for an apartment in the DC area? Are there other places online that might be helpful? Should I consider hiring a broker? Should I simply try walking around in each neighborhood? I haven’t arrived in the area yet, and I don’t know very many people who live in the area.

[Steve O]

The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor rightly gets a lot of kudos, but you definitely pay for it.

S. Arlington tends to get overlooked, but has a lot going for it, and Columbia Pike continues to improve in lots of ways. The big advantage is you will tend to see lower housing prices. Although Judd is willing to rub elbows with the cars on the Pike, most of that is avoidable it you want to avoid it.

In DC, I believe there are pockets where the rents haven’t gotten out of hand completely. I haven’t looked myself, but did see something written about areas near Brookland where you might sneak in before the market goes crazy. Also, some pockets in SW DC. The area near the ballpark is going bonkers, but you may be able to find something that’s a secret gem. Dunno.

DC itself has leapfrogged the surrounding jurisdictions in its building of bike-friendly infrastructure.

Try apartments.com as a starting point. That should at least give you a sense of the market in the various neighborhoods.

[Steve O]

@lordofthemark 146122 wrote:

The only potential issue with Del Ray is that it does not have its own metro station. BUT

1. The Braddock Road metro station is walking distance from the southern end of Del Ray.
2. All of Del Ray is walking distance to the Braddock Road metro, if you really love to walk
3. There is extensive bus service in Del Ray to several metro stations, I believe.

If you are going to be mainly biking and only using metro occasionally, I would not pay the premium for being really close to a metro station.

Also, you can always bike to the metro station, which makes the definition of “close” a little wider.

[LhasaCM]

For DC proper – I’ll second looking near Brookland and looking at apartments.com or rent.com – heck, even the Washington Post Apartment Showcase is good to look through (http://www.washingtonpost.com/rentals/). In favor of Brookland: still somewhat up and coming, so the rental market isn’t entirely crazy yet (last I looked). Pretty easy commute down the Metropolitan Branch Trail for getting to the Hill (well within the original 5 mile constraint). Growing retail presence near the Metro (on both Monroe and on 12th street) so you have some in-neighborhood dining/shopping options.

[wheelswings]

@Steve O 146135 wrote:

Also, you can always bike to the metro station, which makes the definition of “close” a little wider.

Eh. Jorgsofi said s/he would like a place near a Metro Station, and personally I think that’s a very reasonable idea because even though he (or she) rides a bike, that doesn’t mean that every friend rides as well. It’s far easier to have friends over if you’re an easy walk from good transit.

[lordofthemark]

@jorgsofi 146131 wrote:

Thank you everyone for all your great input! I now have a clearer idea of bike friendly neighborhoods in Alexandria and in Arlington that I might want to consider.

Any feedback on bike friendly neighborhoods in DC proper?

Also, I’ve been looking on Craigslist for listings in all the great places you’ve suggested, but I’m not finding many listings, even above my price ceiling. Any ideas on what are some of the best ways to look for an apartment in the DC area? Are there other places online that might be helpful? Should I consider hiring a broker? Should I simply try walking around in each neighborhood? I haven’t arrived in the area yet, and I don’t know very many people who live in the area.

try padmapper.com

[jrenaut]

I like Brookland a lot. We looked there before we bought our house and really loved it except that it feels really suburban for being in the city. It’s not as walkable as Columbia Heights, and it just wasn’t what we wanted. But the area is cool and they have a fantastic bike shop with a coffee shop inside.

[BobCochran]

Well, Maryland has a lot to offer, too, even though I know you seem to be looking mostly at Virginia. Consider University Park, College Park, and Beltsville. Even Greenbelt. Two metro stations — Greenbelt and College Park — are quite close together. You’ll be close to Proteus Bicycles. There are accessible trails.

Bob

[KWL]

@lordofthemark 146122 wrote:

The only potential issue with Del Ray is that it does not have its own metro station. …

…yet. https://www.alexandriava.gov/potomacyard/default.aspx?id=56902

[Judd]

@jorgsofi 146106 wrote:

Hi. Thanks for your reply. My definition of very bike friendly = widely available bike infrastructure (lanes, sharrows, signs, bike racks, bike share, etc) + significant number of people going places by bike

I think you’ll find that most places in Arlington will meet this criteria. This is the most bicycle friendly place that I have ever lived. I bike to work and about 98% of my social engagements. I’d recommend focusing on your other location criteria as the biking part will likely take care of itself.

I’d also suggest that being near the metro may not be as important as you think. There’s a great network of buses that can get you to the metro from much lower rent areas. I’m about 2 miles from the nearest metro which makes about an $800 a month difference in rent.

I did some searching on Craigslist, apartments.com and Zillow before moving out here. Ultimately I found something matching my price range by going to Google maps and typing Apartments near Arlington. I then zeroed in on where I wanted to live (which was Pentagon City) and kept moving outward until I found a complex in my range. If I were moving here today with a 2k price range for a one bedroom I’d pick Shirlington or Del Ray.

There is also a lifestyle consideration. Rosslyn trends younger with more nightlife. Crystal City is close to a ghost town at night and on the weekends. Shirlington and Del Ray both feel more residential but with a strong commercial district. My beloved Columbia Pike is called up and coming by the realtors. It has some recent commercial and residential development but the rents haven’t gotten too high with the additional gentry moving to the neighborhood yet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hozn]

+1 for Arlington in general, though Shirlington and Del Ray seem like good choices from a bike location perspective. My criteria for “bike friendly” would include not only the on-road lanes and multi-use trail systems but also access to the area’s recreational cycling destinations. To that end, N Arlington or neighboring McLean are all pretty ideally located. Easy ride into the city, access to the C&O canal, quick access to MacAurhur Blvd out to Potomac or to River Rd and points west in MD (Sugarloaf, etc.). Being on the W&OD means going west into Loudon (e.g. for gravel!) is a possibility too. (Granted these are longer rides.)

[TwoWheelsDC]

Capitol Hill or the Navy Yard/Ballpark area. Should be right at your rent limit, but the combination of walkability, bikeability, metro access, central location, and an endless supply of restaurants and things to do is nearly impossible to beat.

[Author]

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