Growing up in Sterling Park during the 1970s, John Geddie and his family would drive to Dulles Airport to have dinner in the restaurant that overlooked the runway. The closest options for a night on the town were located in Herndon or Tysons Corner. As a teenager, he discovered the airport was also the only place in the area to grab a coffee after midnight.
“There was not a whole lot to do back then,” said Geddie, who writes for the Loudoun Independent. “We’d bother our friends who worked the concessions or handled baggage.” On Friday nights in high school, he and his classmates would drive around the shopping center in what they called “The Sterling 500.”
“Loudoun County was considered the end of the Earth,” Geddie said. “There was nothing between Northern Virginia Community College and Leesburg.”
A lot has changed.
The Dulles technology corridor now powers more than half of all Internet traffic. There are more satellite and telecom companies along the toll road than anywhere else in the world. Housed within the Smithsonian’s spectacular Udvar-Hazy Center are the Enola Gay, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Air France Concorde and a piece of fabric from the Hindenburg disaster.
The Dulles Town Center now makes it possible for quick bite out at the Cheesecake Factory and Pizzeria Uno. The Dulles Metro will happen at some point in the next five to seven years, and the airport’s “moon buggies” that still shuttle passengers to gates will be retired with the advent of new terminals and trains at the airport.
“Every time I came home from college, I saw a new building or development for the first time,” Geddie said.
Neighborhoods in Sterling, Ashburn and Herndon have sprouted up over the years, including Ashburn Village, Cascades, Loudoun Valley Estates, CountrySide, Sugarland, Brambleton, and soon, Moorefield Park — the home of a new town center and a Metro stop. McMansions and town homes are the norm in the newer subdivisions, while ranchers, Colonials and split-levels can be found in the older communities.
“Nobody really lives in Dulles,” said Loudoun real estate agent Danilo Bogdanovic. “A few homes in Loudoun Valley Estates claim to be in Dulles.”
It’s a region more than anything. There’s a post office and an international airport, but most residents live in Ashburn, Sterling and Herndon. Despite the economy, the real estate market remains competitive.
“Things have picked up over the last nine months,” Bogdanovic said. “Inventory is down, but buyer demand is high.” Recently, homes have had multiple offers.
“It all comes down to price,” he said.
After some rough times, one Dulles neighborhood that could be on the rise is John Geddie’s Sterling Park. The planned community was built on farmland around the airport and was incorporated in 1963. It’s taken a beating over the years.
“[Sterling Park] has the greatest potential upside,” Bogdanovic said. “Everything is cyclical.”
Geddie liked it enough to return after college and cover the Dulles area for a local newspaper.
“The Park is a great place to grow up. It will always be my hometown,” said Geddie.
With multiple upgrades to the airport under way, the planned Metro station, and another town center planned — the Dulles region continues to be a desirable location.
“Everyone ends up in Northern Virginia,” Geddie said. “It’s where the jobs are.”
