Glen Allen

Whether homebuyers are seeking the privacy of the country, contemporary community living or a combination of both, Elmont has the perfect balance. Sitting between the Central Virginia suburbs of Ashland and Glen Allen, this residential Henrico County community offers a quiet atmosphere north of Richmond's city limits. "It's convenient but still rural," says Dara Nicely, a listing agent with Hometown Realty in Elmont. "You have some space, but it's still close to interstates." Elmont residents benefit from easy access to Interstate 95 and US Highway 1, with the two major roads bisecting the community. Commuting to nearby cities is made simple, with Richmond and Ashland both nearby. A car is a must in this area, as public transportation is not readily available. Single-story brick ranchers, Craftsman-style new constructions, Colonial revivals and townhouses comprise the neighborhood, spread out amid the community's farmland. Newer constructions include large custom homes in planned subdivisions like Chickahominy Falls, a unique agri-community for the 55-plus crowd. Chickahominy Falls offers an array of homes that include large, single-family dwellings, with single-level townhomes and villas in the newest areas. The subdivision features a community center, but the main star is Woodside Farms, which produces fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. The community boasts of being connected to nature, health and wellness. Meanwhile, The Barn is a gathering place for private parties and catered events, with a professional demonstration kitchen. Home prices in the area range from $145,000 for a condo in the Stony Point Condominiums to $880,700 for a newly constructed custom home in the Chickahominy Falls community. Elmont Elementary School is the only educational institution within Elmont, with an overall Niche grade of B-plus and a ranking as the ninth-best public elementary school in Hanover County. The neighboring communities of Atlee and Mechanicsville include other Hanover County Public Schools, where kids living in Elmont are likely to attend. One such school is Bell Creek Middle School in Mechanicsville, which has an overall Niche grade of A-minus and is ranked the third-best public middle school in the Richmond area. Teenagers attend Atlee High School, which has an overall Niche grade of A-minus and is ranked the second-best public high school in Hanover County. Among Virginia's 15 largest school divisions, Hanover has the third-highest on-time graduation rate and the fourth-lowest dropout rate. The Chickahominy River, which sits at the community's southern edge, and Stony Run, a stream that runs through the area, provide ample fishing opportunities for local anglers. Those who enjoy a more fast-paced pastime will love having Capital City Speedway close at hand. The speedway features weekly dirt-track go-kart racing throughout the year. Meanwhile, Hanover Sports Park offers fun activities like a heated driving range, a miniature golf course and batting cages. Along Washington Highway, locals will find James River Cellars Winery, a neighborhood favorite. The winery features a tasting room open seven days a week. Indoor seating is available, but many opt to enjoy their wine out on the grounds. Those who prefer beer will have plenty of options to choose from. Center of the Universe Brewing Co., located just off I-95, is a family-run microbrewery popular among craft beer enthusiasts. Part of the Kings Charter Shopping Center, Industrial Taphouse and Kreggers Tap and Table are restaurants specializing in classic American fare and beverages. Various eateries anchor the shopping center, along with a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Other retail options include Green Top Hunt Fish and Bass Pro Shops, both outdoor sporting goods stores that serve this primarily rural community.

The distinctive Wyndham neighborhood earned the No. 1 spot in the “Best Suburbs to Buy a House in Virginia” category on Niche. This 1,271-acre, master-planned community, developed in 1992, is situated in the northwest portion of Henrico County in suburban Richmond. It is now home to over 5,000 residents. “Wyndham is a very, very desirable place to live,” says Tom Stanley, Realtor with Joyner Fine Properties. “It’s convenient, you’ve got the interstate right there, and you’ve got great shopping. The school district is also highly rated, so people with children are really drawn to this area.” Wyndham’s wide, suburban streets boast smooth, curving roads and cul-de-sacs. Spacious colonial, traditional and transitional-style homes sit back on leafy, well-tended lots that range between a quarter and half-acre. In this neighborhood, you can get a four-bed transitional-style home for $500,000, a five-bed colonial for $665,000 or a five-bed, five-bath traditional-style house for $976,000. “Inventory is extremely, and the homes sell quickly — usually with multiple offers,” Stanley says. “That’s across the board in the Richmond area, though. Especially if you go anywhere from Church Hill to Goochland and run close to the river. The closer you stay to that corridor, north of the river, the stronger the market.” Students in Wyndham attend school in the sought-after Henrico County Public Schools district, which includes Shady Grove Elementary School, Holman Middle School and Deep Run High School. Deep Run High is within walking distance of many properties in Wyndham and receives an overall grade of A+ on Niche. The school’s Center for Information Technology program gives students the opportunity to prepare for higher education or careers in fields related to information technology and computer science. In Wyndham, you’ll find amenities galore. The neighborhood features a private country club with a five-acre lake, an 18-hole golf course and several parks that contain volleyball courts, basketball courts and playgrounds. On a hot summer day, head to the 3,000-square-foot Wyndham Swim and Racquet Club, which has a large, sparkling pool, splash pool for kids, tennis and pickleball courts and a fitness center. Enjoy an upscale dinner at Red Salt Chophouse and Sushi on West Broad Street, serving steaks, sushi and global wines. For something quick and casual, hop across the street to The Cocky Rooster. This locally owned eatery offers a focused menu of crispy chicken wings — as well as vegan options — with a range of sauce options. Pick up groceries down the road at Wegmans or Kroger. With dozens of big box stores like Target, Walmart and Home Depot close to home, you’re spoiled for choice for all of your shopping. In this area, you’ll also find the thriving open-air mall, Short Pump Town Center, anchored by Dillard’s, Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Wyndham’s proximity to Interstate 64 grants you quick access to the greater Richmond area and beyond. Offering exquisite amenities, top-rated schools and proximity to shopping, dining and entertainment, it doesn’t get much better than Wyndham.

With its mixed-use commercial space and office park and quiet subdivisions, the Glen Allen neighborhood of Innsbrook appeals to those who don’t want to choose between the amenities of city living and the comfort of suburban life. “It’s a busy, growing area surrounded by quiet suburbs, so people can decide what type of vibe they’re looking for,” says Casey Johnson, a leasing consultant at the Metropolis at Innsbrook Apartments. “The business park has major employers like Dominion Energy and Capital One. A lot of young professionals are graduating from college and moving to Innsbrook, so apartment complexes are going up to meet the demand.” Innsbrook Center’s sprawling 630 acres predominately hosts corporate offices, but there are also nature trails around its lakes and restaurants and shops to the south of the office park. Innsbrook’s single-family homes attract families whose children are zoned to highly rated schools. Some residents live in luxury apartment complexes around Innsbrook Center, and properties tend to sell quickly in this desirable suburb. If they want to purchase property near the action, homebuyers can choose a newly built or soon-to-be-built contemporary townhome in the Townes at Innsbrook Square for between $500,000 and $570,000. Most of Innsbrook’s houses were built in the 1980s and 90s and sit on shaded, winding residential streets that end in cul-de-sacs. Ranches are usually priced between $320,000 and $490,000, while Colonial Revivals cost between $500,000 and $600,000. Children may begin learning at Springfield Park Elementary, which has a B rating from Niche, and advance to Holman Middle, which is rated a B-plus. Glen Allen High, which earns an A rating and is ranked the fifth-best high school in the Richmond area by Niche, serves older students. High school students can apply to the Center for Education and Human Development program, which incorporates project-based, collaborative learning with advanced courses to develop their problem-solving skills. Innsbrook Center is built along three man-made lakes, which balance the area’s office buildings with natural scenery. Residents can walk their dogs or jog on the paved trails that loop around Lake Innsbrook and Waterfront Lake or take a peaceful moment to listen to the spray of the fountains and watch the wildlife from benches. Families living in single-family homes in the eastern section of Innsbrook can walk on the short nature trail to Springfield Park, a shaded public park adjacent to Springfield Park Elementary with a large playground and picnic pavilion. “People move here because it’s convenient for activities for all age groups. Innsbrook has popular restaurants like Capital Ale House, and we’re right by shopping centers with tons of restaurants, a movie theater and a sports park,” Johnson says. After work, locals can head south of the business park to Innsbrook Shoppes, where they can stop by Joey’s Hot Dogs, an old-school diner serving hot dogs and potato salad. Capital Ale House is a local favorite for late-night beer and wings, while Mama Cucina is popular for authentic Italian fare. The shopping plazas off West Broad Street in the southern portion of Innsbrook host retailers and chain restaurants, but most follow West Broad Street 2 miles out of the neighborhood to browse Short Pump Town Center, an open-air shopping mall. Residents have their pick of grocery stores, as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Tom Leonard’s Farmers Market and Target are all about a mile over the neighborhood’s southwestern border. “People appreciate the interstate access since it usually only takes about 15 minutes to get anywhere in the greater Richmond area,” Johnson says. At Innsbrook’s southern edge, residents can merge onto Interstate 64 to drive 15 miles southeast toward Downtown Richmond, or they can pick up Interstate 295 to drive through Richmond’s suburbs, like Glen Allen and Mechanicsville. Residents living near Innsbrook Center can walk to some amenities, but the area is largely car-dependent. Locals may also catch a bus operated by the Greater Richmond Transit Company, or GRTC, on West Broad Street. The neighborhood often comes together to support nonprofit organizations with community activities, like Walk MS and the Live Red Foundation’s East Coast Triathlon in May. Golfers can participate in the annual Innsbrook Classic at Federal Club Golf Course, and residents wind down on summer evenings with sunset yoga by the lake. In December, the community tackles holiday shopping and supports local businesses at the Innsbrook Holiday Market. Innsbrook’s organized subdivisions sit next to the major corporate office buildings at Innsbrook Center. Over 22,000 employees work in Innsbrook, and while large parking lots meet parking demands, the neighborhood experiences more traffic than other suburbs.

The neighborhood of Chamberlayne puts residents close to downtown Richmond while also giving them plenty of green spaces in the form of forested lots, undeveloped land that separates Chamberlayne from other communities and a splendid local park and nature center. Single-family detached Cape Cod and Colonial Revival homes are common here, starting around $250,000 and running up to $500,000, but residents can also choose between townhouses or condos or live in an HOA community like Virginia Crossings. Houses very from modest midcentury Cape Cod and ranch-style homes to Colonial Revival and New Traditional builds offering 4,000 square feet of space. Front and back yards are spacious and shaded, with plenty of room for children to run around and play. Streets follow something of a grid pattern, branching off Chamberlayne Avenue. Sidewalks are uncommon, though streets are off the beaten path that no traffic but local passes through. Home prices range between $250,000 to $500,000. Townhouses, condos, apartments and an HOA neighborhood can be found at Cross Point, located by the I-95/I-295 interchange. More townhouses and condos can be found toward the south. Condos start around $120,000 for 700 square feet of space, and a 1,200 square foot townhouse starts around $175,000. Several schools in the Henrico County Public School District serve Chamberlayne kids. They might start off at Chamberlayne Elementary School, which receives a B-plus rating from Niche, before moving up to Brookland Middle and Hermitage High, which have a C and B-minus, respectively. Hermitage High School is the site of the Center for Humanities, a rigorous college-preparatory program with emphasis on subjects such as history, philosophy and the arts modeled after the Great Books curriculum of St. John’s College. Many residents are within a 5-minute drive of one of Henrico’s finest hidden gems: Three Lakes Park. On top of offering numerous hiking trails, playgrounds, fishing spots and rentable pavilions, the park has a nature center comparable to a zoo, with a 50,000-gallon aquarium and various exhibits. Locals can hit another kind of green at the Crossings Golf Club. Locals can visit the pro shop for the newest golf clubs, play 18-holes and retire to the Tappit Hen Pub for a meal or a drink. A Walmart Neighborhood Market, Food Lion and other retailers can be found at Brookhill Azalea Shopping Center in the southwest corner of Chamberlayne. More shopping options can be found up Brook Road (US Route 1), like a Walmart Supercenter. For used goods from clothes to jewelry to household items, residents can swing over to the Azalea Flea Market, which is often bustling with vendors. The flea market is open Fridays through Sundays. For the most part, chain restaurants dominate from Chick-fil-A to Buffalo Wild Wings, but a few local options can be found too like Q Barbeque. This Richmond favorite was founded by Tuffy Stone, who has appeared on the show “BBQ Pitmasters” and was recently inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame, which should give visitors a hint as to the quality of food they’re getting. A few bus routes circle around Brookhill Azalea Shopping Center and head south for downtown Richmond, but otherwise, the community is unserved by public transit. Interstate 95 marks the western boundary of the neighborhood, and Interstate 295 runs through the northern half. Downtown Richmond is a 15-minute drive for most residents, while DC can be reached in under 2 hours, traffic permitting. Many residents are within a 15-minute drive of the Richmond Raceway, which hosts two NASCAR race weekends where stock cars and pickup trucks take to the track. Nicknamed “The Action Trail,” the raceway is a fan favorite.

Echo Lake is a residential community in Henrico County, sandwiched between the Richmond suburbs of Glen Allen and Elmont. This area offers quiet, suburban living northwest of the city limits. Residents enjoy access to various schools and parks amid a tranquil setting, with several major thoroughfares in and around the community connecting them to nearby amenities in Henrico County and Richmond proper. Interstate 295 bisects the neighborhood's north side, while Staples Mill Road forms much of its eastern border. Broad Street, the Richmond area's east-west corridor, is separated from Echo Lake by a sampling of its myriad retail and dining options. While commutes by car are made easy with interstate and highway access, public transportation is hard to come by. The closest bus stops are way outside the community, not within walking distance. The median sales price of homes in Echo Lake was approximately $400,000 as of January 2023. That's slightly higher than the state average but $100,000 higher than the Richmond average. Home prices in the area range from $205,000 to $1 million. The neighborhood's single-family housing is highlighted by large custom homes incorporating the shutter-style window designs and sparse facades of the Colonial Revival style, the multiple dormers of the Cape Cod style and the peak-heavy architecture of the Gothic Revival style. Split-level and bi-level homes are common as well. Smaller homes included modified Colonial Revivals and Cape Cods, often featuring bump-out additions, as well as cozy ranch-style dwellings. Condominiums and townhouses can also be found in the area. Students in Echo Lake are zoned into Henrico County Public Schools, and they don't have to leave the neighborhood for any level of secondary education. Children may attend Glen Allen Elementary School, which has an overall Niche grade of B-plus and was ranked the tenth-best public elementary school in Henrico County. Echo Lake Elementary follows close behind, with an overall Niche grade of B and a ranking of the number 11 best public elementary school in Henrico County. There's also Longan Elementary, which has an overall Niche grade of C-plus. Next, kids attend Hungary Creek Middle School, which has an overall Niche grade of C-plus. Teenagers may attend Glen Allen High School, which has an overall Niche grade of A and was ranked the fifth-best public high school in the Richmond area. There's also Tucker High School, which has an overall Niche grade of B-plus and was ranked the fifth-best public high school in Henrico County. Prospective homebuyers may also find appeal in the neighborhood's trio of distinctive parks. Crump Park is the largest of the three. The expansive green space includes a large pond serving as a popular fishing spot. Visitors also enjoy feeding waterfowl while children joyously scramble around the park's play areas. The park's train display features rail cars from the former Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad that connected Richmond to the nation's capital. Crump Park is also home to Meadow Farm Museum, a living history farm and educational center focused on the 19th-century influence of the Native American and Black cultures of the region. Echo Lake Park, located on the Meredith Branch of the Chickahominy River, offers a fishing and observation deck and nature trails. Dunncroft, or Castle Point, Park is a smaller recreational haven featuring a spray park and nine-hole disc golf course among its amenities. Plenty of retail offerings are within reach, like Costco, Sam's Club and Kroger. Eateries include a convenient mix of fast-food chains. A Publix anchors the Shoppes at Crossridge on Staples Mill Road and features Chinese, Mexican and Italian eateries. When locals want to enjoy a night out, they don't have to venture far—the Regal West Tower movie theater is a stone's throw away.

Wellesley is situated 15 miles northwest of downtown Richmond and just south of Short Pump, a popular shopping and dining district. Spacious lot sizes and myriad community amenities, along with highly rated Henrico County schools, all add to Wellesley’s appeal to homebuyers. John Daylor, a Realtor with Joyner Fine Properties who has been in local real estate for more than three decades, says that Wellesley is often at the top of the list for homebuyers looking for a neighborhood in Richmond’s “Far West End.” Daylor: “Many people are drawn there for the neighborhood itself. They like the strong sense of community, and they like the pools and walking trails, as well as the mature lots.” Built mainly throughout the 1980s and 1990s, homes in Wellesley range from 2,000-square-foot brick townhomes to large Georgian, Cape Cod, and Colonial Revival-style single-family houses. Homes near the center of the community often feature views of Wellesley Lake. Like many suburbs on the outskirts of Richmond, lots here are big, usually somewhere between a quarter of an acre to a full acre. The broad, neatly trimmed front lawns are shaded by tall trees and decorated by manicured garden beds and ornamental shrubs. Two-bedroom townhomes here tend to sell for around $315,000, while four-bedroom Colonial Revival-style homes go for closer to $560,000. “Right now in this area, home sales have slowed down a bit due to the higher interest rates, but price points are still up due to lack of inventory and high demand,” Daylor says. “We are seeing longer days on market, but it still varies. Some houses still sell in a weekend, while other sit a while longer.” Kids in Wellesley attend schools in the Henrico County Public Schools system. Many go to Gayton Elementary, Short Pump Middle and Deep Run High, all three of which are highly rated by Niche. In 2023, Gayton earned an A-minus, Short Pump earned a B-plus and Deep Run earned an A-plus. Deep Run High Wildcats can participate in the school’s Air Force JROTC program, work on the Deep Run Literary Magazine or join a variety of school-sponsored clubs, ranging in subject from band to robotics. Wellesley residents enjoy access to the community’s tennis courts, outdoor pools and workout center. There are also several classic, colorful playgrounds and a splash pad for the youngest residents. Locals can walk their dogs or ride their bikes along the paved multiuse trails that meander through the center of the neighborhood, past Wellesley Lake. The lake itself is home to turtles and can be fished for rock bass and sunfish from the gazebo. For pup parents, there’s even a well-maintained dog park featuring astroturf, sprinklers, and water stations. Head to Short Pump Park, on Pump Road just a mile northeast, for even more outdoor fun. It’s easy to run out for everyday essentials or retail therapy from Wellesley, with three major shopping centers close at hand. Short Pump Town Center, Short Pump Village and Short Pump Crossing are all within 2 miles of most homes, sprawled along either side of West Broad Street to the north. Between the three shopping centers, there’s everything from Macy’s and Dillard’s to Target and Walmart Supercenter. There are even home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s nearby, as well as grocery stores like Publix, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Wellesley residents can stick even closer to home for groceries, though, by visiting the Food Lion off Lauderdale Drive less than a mile and a half from most homes. After getting groceries, stop for a sweet treat at Ray’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, right next door. In the Shops at Wellesley shopping center, just up Lauderdale Drive from the Food Lion, locals can feast on everything from pizza to Indian cuisine. Short Pump Town Center, off West Broad Street just 2 miles north, hosts a variety of events throughout the year, from a summer concert series to regular wine tastings and fashion shows. In December, local kids can meet Santa. And throughout the year (weather permitting), littles can take a ride on the Short Pump Express, a small trackless train that tours the outdoor mall. West Broad Street, on Wellesley’s doorstep just a mile north, is a major thoroughfare connecting locals to the wider Richmond metro. It’s easy to get around beyond the metro with Interstate 64 just half a mile farther north, too. The Richmond International Airport is about a 30-minute drive through the city, east down I-64.