Alajuela

About Alajuela:

The district covers about 10.6 square kilometres at 952 metres, on flat ground between the Ciruelas and Alajuela rivers, which come down from Poás and Barva. Its postcode is 20101. National routes 3, 123, 124, 125, 130 and 153 all pass through, and the Radial Francisco J. Orlich, opened in the early 1990s, runs from the Calle Ancha past the hospital and the malls to the General Cañas highway and Juan Santamaría airport. Buses to almost every corner of the canton leave from terminals on the Calle Ancha. The commuter train from Heredia and San José ends in the city and runs on weekdays, with most departures bunched around rush hour.

Alajuela dates its founding to 12 October 1782, when Bishop Tristán opened an oratory in the hamlet and laid out a grid for farmers to settle around. What you see around the Parque Central today is largely the work of 1870 to 1890: the red-domed cathedral of Nuestra Señora del Pilar on the east side, the old barracks and jail that now hold the Juan Santamaría museum on the north, and the former Instituto de Alajuela, now part of the Universidad Técnica Nacional, on the south. The west side is the old town hall, finished in 1911 and now the Centro Alajuelense de la Cultura, and two blocks south the 1891 statue of Juan Santamaría stands in front of the art deco Teatro Municipal. The 1990 earthquake brought down many of the old bahareque houses. The adobe and bahareque buildings that survive need an engineer’s eye before anyone buys one.

Daily life runs on services. The Hospital San Rafael moved to its present building in Barrio Tomás Guardia in 2004, the municipality sits a block from La Agonía church, and the UTN brings students into the old town every day. Farmers from the surrounding districts sell at the Feria del Agricultor every Friday and Saturday, under a covered fairground about 900 metres west of the park, and the Mercado Municipal still trades in the middle of the grid. Salsa Lizano was first made in Barrio El Carmen in the 1920s. On match days Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, founded in 1919, fills the streets around the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto.

Population has barely moved in a generation: 42,889 residents at the 2000 census and 42,975 in 2011, while the districts around the city filled up with condominiums. With more than 4,000 people per square kilometre and very little open ground, the market here is mostly resale houses and rentals. Buyers are usually Alajuela families who want school, hospital and buses within walking distance, people who work in the centre, and investors looking for a house they can split into rental units. Renters include students, hospital and office staff, and anyone who would rather not depend on a car.

Houses in Alajuela:

Most of the stock is one- or two-storey houses on narrow lots, with a garage at the front and a small patio behind. Close to the park, in Corazón de Jesús and El Carmen, you find larger older houses extended over the decades, often bought for consulting rooms, offices or shops as much as for living. To the north, urbanizaciones such as Lirios del Valle, Sitio Ideal and Llanos del Norte have streets of family houses, and in Villa Bonita some houses come with a separate apartment that is already let. When you compare houses for sale in Alajuela centro, ask what the municipality allows on each lot, because frontage on a commercial street changes the value more than the floor plan does.

Apartments in Alajuela:

Apartment buildings are few and sit mostly on the edge of the old town. Torre Camino Real, a vertical condominium a short walk from the centre, has two-bedroom, two-bathroom units of around 100 square metres with views over the city. The rest are low buildings of two or three floors, put up above shops or behind family houses. An apartment here suits someone who wants the hospital, the market and the bus terminals on foot and can live without a garden.

Rentals in Alajuela:

Renting is the busiest part of the market. The typical unit is a studio or one-bedroom apartment of 40 to 50 square metres, often furnished and sometimes without parking, in Corazón de Jesús, El Carmen or near the UTN. Students look for rooms and small flats close to the university’s central campus, and the hospital brings steady demand from staff on shifts. Family houses for rent come up across the district as well. Ask whether water and electricity have their own meters and where the car goes, because inside the old grid parking is never a given.

FAQ:

• Is the Alajuela district the same as Alajuela city or the province?

  Not quite. The district is the old core, district 1 of the canton with postcode 20101, about 10.6 square kilometres around the Parque Central. The built-up city spills over into neighbouring districts such as San José, Desamparados and Río Segundo, and the province runs all the way to the Nicaraguan border, so check the district on a listing rather than just the word Alajuela.

• Can I live here without a car?

  More easily than almost anywhere else in the canton. Buses from the Calle Ancha terminals reach every district, the hospital, market and shops are a walk from most barrios, and the weekday train runs to Heredia and San José, mostly at peak hours. The trade-off is parking: many central houses and apartments have none.

• What should I check before buying an old house near the Parque Central?

  Start with the walls. Many bahareque houses in the centre collapsed in the 1990 earthquake, so have an engineer inspect anything built in adobe or bahareque, roof included. Then find out whether the building has been declared historic-architectural heritage, which limits what you can alter or demolish. Finally, pull the folio real and plano catastrado from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) and ask the Municipalidad de Alajuela for the land-use certificate before you sign.

• Is a rental unit in the centre a sensible investment?

  Demand comes from students, hospital staff and people who work in the centre, and what they ask for is small, furnished and close to the park. Separate meters, a parking space and distance from the bus traffic on the Calle Ancha matter more to these tenants than high-end finishes.

• How do the central barrios differ from the outer ones?

  El Carmen, Corazón de Jesús, La Agonía and El Arroyo mix homes with shops, offices and bus routes, which suits renters and anyone who wants everything on foot. Montenegro and the urbanizaciones to the north, Villa Hermosa and El Llano to the east, and Cristo Rey and Gregorio José Ramírez to the west are mainly residential, with more family houses and less through traffic.