KingsView Village boasts several shopping and recreation facilities nearby
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Version 0 of 1. For years, Bill Stayeas has followed a daily workout regimen. Before dawn, on most days, the longtime resident of KingsView Village, in Germantown, laces up his running shoes and hits the streets around his house, not far from Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School. Often, Stayeas’s five-mile route will take him to Maryland SoccerPlex and Discovery Sports Center. “We have very nice people living here. And I see the same group of ladies walking every morning,” said Stayeas, 68, who has completed Marine Corps marathons and has run competitively in all 50 states and the District. Plenty to do: KingsView Village, near Route 118 and Richter Farm Road, consists of 713 residential lots. There are a total of 365 single-family homes, 272 townhouses and 76 “village”-style units, according to information on its website. Residents have access to a clubhouse, a community center and an outdoor swimming pool. [Shirlington offers a quiet, convenient lifestyle close to the District] Like her husband, Terry Stayeas enjoys her daily strolls through the community that the couple has called home since 2000. “I can get to Milestone Shopping Center on Frederick Road and the Rio Entertainment Center within 20 minutes,” said Terry Stayeas, 64. If I can’t find what I want, I’ll go to Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll take our grandchildren to Adventureland, which is part of the SoccerPlex,” she added. “Maybe I’ll take them to the indoor pool when they get older.” The house they found fit their needs. “We wanted to move into a new house, and a little-bit-bigger house,” she said. “We just kind of stumbled on this.” Their four-bedroom model, she said, is a Victorian with a center staircase, a living room, a dining room, a family room in the rear and a finished basement. Todd Hassett, the property manager at KingsView Village, said that along with a stock of single-family homes, there are village homes, “which are a little bit closer together, with yards a little smaller.” Overall, he said, KingsView Village is a place where “people do their own thing.” The hub of activity, he said is the clubhouse, which can accommodate large gatherings. There’s also a community yard sale, he added. What’s nearby: Places of employment nearby include federal agencies such as the Energy Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Private employers include biotech and pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca and Qiagen. [Barnaby Woods is a green, secluded corner of the city] Kevin Grolig, an agent with Long & Foster in Germantown, said that prices for single-family houses in KingsView Village range from $500,000 to $750,000. The price range for townhouses, he said, is $375,000 to $450,000. “One of the big pluses,” he said of KingsView Village, is the soccer facility and the sports arena. “It’s literally within a half-mile of the community,” he added. “Their fields are meticulous.” The facility also includes indoor pool and tennis courts. Other nearby attractions include the BlackRock Center for the Arts, a venue that features cultural, visual and performing arts programs and classes. It gets its name from the nearby historic Black Rock Mill. Seneca Creek State Park, whose waterway extends 14 miles to the Potomac River, is a short drive away. Included on its more than 6,000 acres are boating spots, walking trails and picnic areas. Germantown, a planned community, was developed in the 1960s by the Montgomery County government in tandem with construction of Interstate 270, according to the Germantown Historical Society. The concept focused on preserving the outer margins of the growing county as farmland and forest, and to center houses, business and industries closer to the area where the highway is located. When the first wave of Europeans settled in the area in the 1600s, they encountered a gathering of Piscataway Indians at the mouth of Rock Creek, where Georgetown is today. In the 1800s, the rural outpost became known as “German Town,” reflecting a slew of German accents. Even though the area was dominated by landowners of Irish and Scottish heritage, the name endured. Tensions around the village grew during the Civil War. Many of the residents of German background were opposed to slavery and had sons on the Union side. Meanwhile, it was common for many landowners of English heritage owned slaves or had sons battling on the Confederate side. Walter Johnson, the pitching legend who helped the Washington Senators win the World Series in 1924, bought a dairy farm where Seneca Valley High School stands today in 1935. A widower, he lived there with his five children and his mother. He served two terms as a Montgomery County commissioner before his death in 1945. Living there: KingsView Village is bordered by Schaeffer Road to the north, Crownsgate Way to the east, Germantown Road to the south and Richter Farm Road to the west. In the past 12 months, 26 homes were sold in KingsView Village, with prices ranging from $290,000, for a three-bedroom, four-bathroom townhouse, to $750,000, for a single-family, 5,000-square-foot home with six bedrooms and six baths, Grolig said. The average sale price is $517,054. There is one home for sale and three under contract. The house for sale is a single-family property listed at $699,000 with four bedrooms and four baths. The available properties are listed between $440,000, for a three-bedroom, end-unit townhouse with four baths, to $650,000, for a 3,232-square foot, single-family (short sale) with four bedrooms and five baths. Schools: Spark M. Matsunaga and Great Seneca Creek elementary schools, KingsView Middle, and Northwest High. Transit: The neighborhood is served by Montgomery County Ride On buses and the Brunswick MARC train station. The Shady Grove Metro station, the northernmost point on the Red Line, is nearby. Crime: In the past 12 months, the area of Germantown that includes KingsView Village had one aggravated assault, three residential burglaries and eight thefts from vehicles, according to Lucille Baur of the Montgomery County police. |