Alexandria VA Neighborhood
Welcome to charming, historic Alexandria, Virginia!
When many people picture Virginia, the image that often comes to mind is the historic brick sidewalks in Old Town Alexandria. But there’s more to Alexandria than just Old Town. And there’s the City of Alexandria, and then Alexandria in Fairfax County. What’s the difference? There are things you must know about some Alexandria homes in some of the neighborhoods. Also, If you have school aged children, please stick with me because there are issues you must know about.
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Location
The City of Alexandria is located west of the Potomac River, inside the beltway with 495 the southern boundary, 395 is the western boundary and Four Mile Run is the northern boundary. There are a few metros that service Alexandria – Van Dorn St Metro in West End, then Eisenhower, King Street or Braddock Rd.
There are actually several neighborhoods that make up Alexandria City. They all have their own personality too, which means you have a pretty good chance of finding an area of the city that feels like it could be home!
Old Town: This is old Virginia. Think brick sidewalks and brick homes, this was originally part of the capital city. Alexandria resonates with people who move here from the Northeast – Connecticut, Massachusetts. A combination of life near the water and that feel of an old port town feels part New England and definitely part old colonial Virginia. The neighborhood is bustling with people outside on the sidewalks and at the cafes and restaurants along the water.
Del Ray: Between Rosemont and the northern edges of Old Town, Del Ray is a happening little neighborhood with a big and strong sense of community. The main strip, Mount Vernon Avenue, is packed with amazing independent restaurants and shops.
Potomac Yard: This has more of a commercial feel, and sits south of Pentagon City (which is in Arlington) on Route 1. There is lots of new development happening here, but it’s a long narrow strip of land sandwiched between the geographic constraints of Route 1 and the Potomac River. Proximity to National Landing where Amazon’s Headquarters is located makes this a prime destination for many people. (Prime! Mom jokes!)
Eisenhower/Carlyle: Long strip of land that stretches across the southern edge of Alexandria just inside the beltway. The western side is industrial. The eastern part is just west of Old Town and has several high-rise condo buildings, townhomes and an area of retail and restaurants. This is located just off Duke Street.
Rosemont: This is a quiet neighborhood where people wave at you when you drive by. There are many well-manicured homes, developed in early 1900’s. It’s mostly comprised of single-family homes. There’s a historic district and Rosemont is often grouped together with North Ridge.
North Ridge: This neighborhood is mostly single-family homes as well, but developed later than Rosemont. These homes were built in the 1930’s – 1960’s. Retail areas are on the edges of these neighborhoods.
Park Fairfax: A large community of almost 1700 homes, originally built for those coming home after World War II.
Arlandria: A small neighborhood on the northeast part of Alexandria. Arlandria is a residential neighborhood served just as much by retail on the Arlington side of Four Mile Run River than it would be in Alexandria. Arlandria was made famous by a Foo Fighters Song of the same name.
Parker Gray or Uptown: This is an area west of Old Town that has experienced a lot of growth. There are many smaller two story townhomes here, but also new developments by Braddock Rd Metro.
West End is the West End of Alexandria and includes a few neighborhoods.
Seminary Hill is mostly residential single-family homes, many Cape Cod style with well-maintained yards.
The Landmark area is just south of Seminary Hill and is being redeveloped. Here you will find a mix of condos and apartments.
Cameron Station: This is a huge planned community built in the late 1990’s around 2000 of mostly townhomes and condos
Fun Fact: Old Town Alexandria was originally part of the capital of DC in the early 1800’s.
City of Alexandria Real Estate
The average price of all condos in the entire City of Alexandria that sold in the last six months is $497,000. The median price is $387,500. We can break this down further.
If we pull out just the one bedrooms, the average sales price is $353,000 and the median is $300,000. The average sales price for two bedrooms is $545,000 and the median is $422,500. There are also 3 bedroom condos here, mostly due to the fact that there are communities with townhome style condos. The average sales price for the last six months is $729,000 and the median is $541,000.
The average price of townhomes sold in Alexandria in the last six months is $996,000. The median is $840,000. For single family detached homes, the average for the last six months is $1.275M and the median is $1.09M.
There is a very wide price range on condos and houses here due to location. If you’re closer to the water you will pay more than if you’re in a different neighborhood.
If we look at some of the individual neighborhoods this will fine tune the prices even further.
A good portion of the housing in Old Town is from the 1800’s – which isn’t super common to find in the area. But Old Town Alexandria, just like Georgetown in DC, were the two original settlements due to their ports. In Old Town Alexandria, you will find rowhomes, condos and apartments. The charm here will cost you. Prices are typically $1M up to $3M.
Quick side note, you heard me say rowhome. What is the difference between a rowhome and townhome? Generally they look the same – it’s an attached house in a row. But rowhome tends to designate a home that is from before the Homeowner’s Association. The rowhomes don’t have a monthly maintenance fee or association that manages any amenities or landscaping. Townhomes do have that – a monthly fee in exchange for some exterior maintenance or amenities.
There are some newer condos that have popped up in places in Old Town that have been mostly repurposed through conversions of other buildings. Condos can be found in older buildings on the southern edge of Old Town in the $200’s, but the newer condos go from $400,000 up into the millions. It’s all about a showstopping water view here.
In Del Ray the house prices have risen steeply in the past few years. Being walkable to the main strip, Mount Vernon Ave, where the restaurants and shops are is key. There are not a lot of condos here in Del Ray. There are a few small 500 sf condos in the high $200’s, but most prices for condos in Del Ray go well into the $600’s and $700’s. There are attached/row houses in the $600’s and range up to the low $1M’s. Single Family Houses start in the $900,000’s and go to the mid $2M’s.
The Eisenhower area has newer buildings. Condos are $400K for a 1 bedroom into the $800’s for a 2 bedroom. There are townhomes here, but they rarely seem to hit the market. A few years ago the last few that sold were over $1M.
Rosemont and North Ridge house prices are in the 900’s to the high $1M’s. There are some condos on the northwest edge of North Ridge – many in the Park Fairfax Community. This area lives like single family homes, it’s a huge community of one level condos with yards with homes in the $300’s.
Potomac Yard is newer area with most homes being built post 2000. This is the most northern part of Alexandria, and feels more like Arlington / Crystal City than Alexandria. Newer townhouses here are start in the $900,000’s and go to $1.5M. There are older condos here in the mid $300’s and the newer condos start in the mid $500’s to and can go as high as the low $1M’s. The homes in Potomac Yard are well done and they carry a premium due to the quality of the home and location so close to Arlington and Reagan National Airport. It can be a little tricky to navigate in and out of here though, and you’re always in a flight path.
Cameron Station is a community that can somewhat stand alone though it will show up on maps as the Landmark neighborhood. The homes are in the $800’s and up. You have some retail, but you do have to leave the community for other amenities. That said, it is a popular location in which to live and I’ve sold quite a few homes and condos in the community.
In the West End you can find smaller two-level townhomes in the $500’s, but they will lack the location / neighborhood amenities of the areas to the east like Old Town and Del Ray. But what West End lacks in location is made up for with the proximity to 395.
We have to also talk about Alexandria and water in the basements. Not only are you susceptible to floods due to the land being at sea level in Old Town, but there was a massive fail on the part of the city to adequately upgrade the storm drains. This has caused a lot of problems for people across many neighborhoods in the City of Alexandria. While the storm drains are a major focus now of the City’s capital improvement plan, this is going to be a 10 year project. That won’t help people like my clients where we did a ton of due diligence and they still had a flood. Despite the fact there were two sump pumps, somewhere underground, one or both weren’t actually connected to the storm drain.
Food
There is so much in Alexandria, it’s impossible to cover it all. Between Old Town and Del Ray, you have options to keep you satisfied for months. American, Seafood, BBQ, Sushi, French, Ethiopian, Italian, Seafood. The highest concentration of restaurants is in Old Town. Del Ray runs a close 2nd where there are all independent or small local chain restaurants with just one or two locations.
As you move further toward the west and West End, you will see more chain restaurants heading west on Duke Street.
Grocery stores are not lacking in Alexandria. There’s Harris Teeter, Giant, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Balduccis.
Fun
It’s hard to compete with the Old Town waterfront! The Torpedo Factory used to be a munitions manufacturing building. It’s now a place for artists to show their work as well as condos.
Old Town has a Farmer’s Market, which happens to be the oldest continuously run farmer’s market. George Washington is said to have sold stuff here. It’s open from 7a.m. to noon on Saturdays
Don’t Miss: 523 Queen St – Hollensbury Spite House, built in 1830 by John Hollensbury to keep horses out of the alley.
Potomac Yard and Del Ray run a close second in terms of shopping, but they each offer two totally different experiences.
Potomac Yard is the big box stores – Target, Petsmart, TJ Maxx, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble. Del Ray has smaller shops, independent stores and restaurants. There’s also the Del Rey Vintage and Flea Market to check out.
You can also see the southernmost boundary stone in Alexandria at Jones Point.
There are tons of community gardens all over Alexandria as well.
Kids
There are playgrounds in every neighborhood. Some are smaller neighborhood parks less than an acre and others are larger.
Eugene Simpson between Del Ray and Old Town North has Baseball fields, basketball court, dog exercise area, garden, playground and tennis courts.
Cameron Run Regional Park has Mini Golf, Batting Cages and Great Waves Water Park. There’s something here for all ages.
Ben Brenman Park is 60 acres and is right next to Cameron Station.
Alexandria has all their parks on a website: https://www.alexandriava.gov/recreation/info/default.aspx?id=12342
In Old Town you can hit the Stabler – Leadbeater Apothecary Museum which has some Harry Potter Inspiration, with old medicine bottles to play with.
When it comes to parks and fun, Alexandria does the kids well. When it comes to schools, the City of Alexandria does you and your kids dirty. Absolutely no one moves here because of the schools. People leave because of them though.
Elementary seems to be fine in many places, but once the stakes get higher, and there’s more choice and more paths, things seem to unravel. The schools suffered under a prior Superintendent who made things very divisive. He left, and there was a newly hired Superintendent in 2023. The big issue though is the school board, and as the years go by, there is not enough change to support students, their education. I have separate videos for the various school systems and I try to update them often so check out the Alexandria School Video.
Dogs
Your dogs are not going to be left out. Alexandria is really dog friendly. There is 1st Street Dog park, Eugene Simpson, Monroe Avenue in Old Town North but there’s tons of walking you can do along the river at a system of linear parks along the water in Old Town.
Over in Eisenhower there’s a dog wash, a couple dog parks. And in West End there is a dog park at Ben Brenman, Holmes Run, Wiggley Field.
There is a ton in Alexandria, and I hope this gave you an overview. Let me know if you have questions!
