Heredia

About Heredia:

Heredia district is the city proper: the old grid around the Parque Central and the barrios of Carmen, Ángeles, Fátima, Corazón de Jesús, Guayabal, Hospital, India, Oriente, Pirro, Rancho Chico, San Fernando, San Vicente, Chino and Estadio, plus parts of La Puebla and María Auxiliadora. It sits at 1,150 metres, about 11 kilometres north of San José. The canton’s other urban districts, Mercedes, San Francisco and Ulloa, wrap around it and house most of the people who call themselves heredianos, while the fifth, Vara Blanca, lies far up in the mountains. National routes 3, 5, 112, 113, 126 and 171 all cross the district, and the Interurbano train stops at Heredia station in the south of it, with weekday services to San José and to Alajuela by way of the airport boulevard. The postal code is 40101.

The town began as Cubujuquí, where settlers from Cartago moved their chapel between 1716 and 1717. It was made a villa in 1763 and named after Alonso Fernández de Heredia, president of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, became a city in 1824 and, from 1835 to 1838, served as capital of the State of Costa Rica. The Fortín came later, ordered in 1876 by Fadrique Gutiérrez, the sculptor and photographer who was then the town’s military commander. He planned a barracks with four towers and had the money for one. Declared a national monument in 1974 and restored in 2009, it is open to visitors, and the climb to the top is worth it for the view over the city.

Most of what defines the centre fits along a 300-metre line: the Escuela República de Argentina, now a cultural centre, the old post office, the Casa de la Cultura in the former home of President Alfredo González Flores, the Inmaculada church, consecrated in 1880, the Fortín and the Liceo de Heredia, in the building the Escuela Normal moved into in 1915. The Mercado Municipal has been trading since 1889; rebuilt in 1929 after the 1924 earthquake and declared heritage in 2003, it holds 148 stalls selling everything from fruit and cheese to hardware. The Universidad Nacional’s Omar Dengo campus spreads over almost 16 hectares east of the park, and Herediano’s Eladio Rosabal Cordero stadium on Calle 16 has been rebuilt on its old ground for 12,000 spectators. South of the city, the Hospital San Vicente de Paúl, the CCSS regional hospital, moved into new buildings on Avenida 16 in 2010.

The district counted 22,700 residents in 1973 and 18,697 at the 2011 census, and the figure has kept falling as ground floors became shops and old houses were split into rooms. That trend shapes the market. Buyers come in three kinds: families who want school, market, church and train within walking distance; investors who buy a house near the campus to let to students; and businesses after a street front on a busy avenue. Tenants are mostly students and university staff, plus people who work in the city and want to be done with the commute. Developers also watch the centre, because an old house on a large lot is worth more for its ground than for its walls.

Houses in Heredia:

Houses here are city houses, built wall to wall on narrow, deep lots. In Barrio Fátima, one recent sale had 300 square metres built on a 300-square-metre lot, and another offered three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a covered garage for two cars on a frontage of under 14 metres. Many older homes have grown over the years, with a second floor, an office or an independent apartment at the back, which is why some houses for sale in Heredia centro are pitched as a home with rental income built in. Walk the street at rush hour before you buy. A quiet side street and an avenue carrying buses past the market are two very different addresses.

Apartments and Rooms for Rent in Heredia:

The university drives this market. Within a few hundred metres of the UNA campus you will find furnished rooms with water, electricity and Wi-Fi included, some reserved for women students, alongside small one- and two-bedroom apartments for rent in Heredia centro with services in the price. Many of them sit inside converted family houses rather than purpose-built blocks. If you are renting, get in writing what the monthly payment includes and how many people share the kitchen and bathroom. If you are buying to let, remember that demand follows the academic year.

Commercial and Mixed-Use Property in Heredia:

The centre is the province’s high street, and commercial space comes up all the time: ground-floor shops on Avenida Primera a hundred metres from the Parque Central, premises steps from the Carmen church, second-floor offices, and a 150-square-metre unit with a mezzanine on Avenida Central near the new stadium. Houses with mixed land use are a product of their own here. One near the UNA, on a busy street, had 274 square metres and ten metres of frontage, and was pitched at a business as much as a home. Before you sign a lease or an offer, ask the Municipalidad de Heredia for the land-use certificate and check that a business licence can be issued for your activity at that address.

Land and Lots in Heredia:

There is almost no vacant land left in the district. What reaches the market instead is an old house sold for its ground, sometimes advertised outright as a property to demolish, such as a 302-square-metre lot with mixed use on Calle 4 and Avenida 1. Sites like these suit offices, a small apartment building or student housing, if the rules allow it. How much you can build depends on the land use, the street alignment and any heritage protection on or around the lot, so price the site only once you have those answers in writing.

FAQ:

• Is this the city, the canton or the province of Heredia?

  The district: the city centre, postal code 40101, covering 2.86 square kilometres. The built-up city spills into Mercedes, San Francisco and Ulloa, which belong to the same canton, and the canton also includes Vara Blanca in the mountains. The province has ten cantons. Ads saying just “Heredia” can mean any of these, so read the district on the cadastral plan.

• The house has rooms and an apartment added at the back. What should I check?

  Whether those additions exist on paper. Houses near the campus are often extended or split into rooms over the years, not always with a building permit. Compare what is built with the registered plan and the property record at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), ask the municipality for the permits behind each addition, and have an engineer look at the structure. An unregistered extension can complicate a mortgage, the property tax and any later sale.

• Can I buy an old house next to the historic buildings?

  Yes, but find out first whether the house itself carries a heritage declaration under Ley 7555. The Fortín, the Casa de la Cultura, the Mercado Municipal and the train station are all protected, and a declared building cannot be demolished or altered without approval from the Centro de Investigación y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural. The Municipalidad de Heredia can tell you whether the property is on that list.

• How do I get from Heredia to San José?

  The quickest option at rush hour is often the train: on weekdays it runs from Heredia station to the Atlántico station in San José, with frequent departures in the morning and evening peaks. By road, Ruta 5 runs south through Santo Domingo and Tibás, other roads lead down through San Francisco to the General Cañas highway, and buses leave from the centre throughout the day.

• Is it worth buying near the UNA to let to students?

  Demand is steady during term, and rooms with utilities included are what students look for. Tenancies follow the academic calendar, though, so ask the seller how the property did over the long end-of-year break, check how many rooms the land use and permits allow, and budget for furniture, internet and regular wear.