Santa Lucía

About Santa Lucía:

Santa Lucía is the fifth district of Barva and one of the smallest in the canton, covering less than three square kilometres at 1,159 metres. It borders Barva and San Pablo to the north, Ángeles of San Rafael to the east, San Josecito of San Rafael to the south and Mercedes, part of Heredia’s central canton, to the west. Three cantons meet within a few blocks of each other. National routes 126 and 502 cross the district, and with no train, buses and taxis carry people into Heredia and on to San José. Three streams run across it from east to west: Quebrada Seca, Quebrada Burío and Quebrada Palmar, the last two meeting at the southern edge to form the Río Burío.

The Universidad Nacional is more present here than the district’s size would suggest. Its Escuela de Ciencias Agrarias runs the Finca Experimental Santa Lucía, its forestry research and services institute works from the district, and the university staff union keeps a recreation centre here. The university also runs the Museo de Cultura Popular, housed in the bahareque home of the family of former president Alfredo González Flores, on land that was part of the family’s coffee farm. Visitors come for coffee-farm tours and family Sunday programmes. Small coffee plots still survive between the urbanizaciones, and the name of Jardines del Beneficio recalls the district’s coffee mill.

Daily life is residential and close to home. Small businesses serve the neighbourhoods. The public Escuela Domingo González Pérez, a municipal childcare centre called Sueños de Algodón and private schools including Centro Educativo Montealto, which runs from preschool to secondary, Shkénuk Montessori and a bilingual preschool are all inside the district. An EBAIS run by the Caja handles primary care. Santa Lucía became a parish in its own right in 2002, and it has a salón comunal, several small parks and a public football field.

Most of the people who live here came from somewhere else, from other parts of Heredia and from the San José metropolitan area. The district went from a few hundred residents in 1950 to more than 7,400 at the 2011 census, and some 9,000 today. Jardines de Santa Lucía was already fully built in September 1998, when a ten-minute tornado unroofed 179 of its houses, among the most destructive ever recorded in Costa Rica. Other names you will see when house-hunting are Antiesquivo, Malinche Real, Villa Esmeralda, La Ronda, Don Álvaro, Doña Iris and El Tajo, along with Pedregal and parts of Paso Viga, Getsemaní and Palmar.

Houses in Santa Lucía:

Houses are the core of the local market. The standard is a two-storey home with three bedrooms and two or more bathrooms inside a residencial, on a lot of 150 to 250 square metres, often with parking for two or three cars. Many were built when the urbanizaciones went up, so the roof, the wiring and any later additions deserve a close look. A larger home on a bigger lot can cost more than twice a standard three-bedroom house in the same district. For houses in Barva, Heredia close to the provincial capital, the supply here centres on residenciales such as Malinche Real.

Rentals in Santa Lucía:

The rental stock is mostly small: one-room apartments of around 35 square metres, two-bedroom apartment-style houses and the odd family home. Some properties hold two or three units on one lot, so a rental may share a driveway and garden with its neighbours. A few landlords accept pets. Ask about parking, since the smaller units may have space for only one car. Being a few minutes from central Heredia, the district suits tenants who work or study there.

Land and Lots in Santa Lucía:

Land comes up in a few forms. Inside residenciales such as Malinche Real, vacant lots with services already in place come up for sale, some under 200 square metres and sized for a single house. In Getsemaní, lots of 600 square metres also appear, and now and then a parcel of close to a hectare reaches the market inside an established residential area. Some lots carry a land use that allows apartments. Read the certificado de uso de suelo before you price a lot, because what can be built changes from one lot to the next.

FAQ:

• Where exactly is Santa Lucía, between Heredia and Barva?

  It sits immediately south of Barva town and east of Mercedes, the district that runs into the city of Heredia. The centre of Heredia is a few minutes away by car. National routes 126 and 502 serve the district, and buses and taxis cover the trip; there is no train.

• What do I need to check about a lot near the quebradas?

  Quebrada Seca, Quebrada Burío and Quebrada Palmar all cross the district, and a lot that backs onto one of them loses part of its area to the protected strip along the bank. Compare the plano catastrado with the boundaries on the ground, confirm the owner and any liens at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and ask the Municipalidad de Barva for the certificado de uso de suelo under the canton’s Plan Regulador. Do all of it before you sign, not after.

• How do houses here handle water and wastewater?

  The ESPH, Heredia’s public utility, supplies water and electricity, drawing on wells inside the district. Homes have long relied on individual septic tanks, so ask where the tank is, when it was last emptied and whether an extension was built over it. Fibre internet from ICE reaches the area.

• Are there schools and health services within the district?

  For the basics, yes. The public Escuela Domingo González Pérez, the municipal childcare centre and private options such as Centro Educativo Montealto, from preschool to secondary, and Shkénuk Montessori are all in Santa Lucía. An EBAIS handles primary care, and hospital services are in Heredia.

• Is a house in a residencial the same as one in a condominium?

  Not necessarily. Some residenciales in Santa Lucía are not condominiums and charge no maintenance fee at all. A finca filial in a condominium comes with its own rules and monthly fees, so find out which one you are looking at before you compare prices.