San Pablo

About San Pablo:

San Pablo lies at 1,200 metres on the eastern edge of Heredia city, close enough that most people cross from one to the other without noticing the line. Since 2008 it has shared its canton with one other district, Rincón de Sabanilla, which took Miraflores, Corobicí, Estrella, Rincón de Ricardo and Santa Fe when it was split off. Before then the canton had a single district, so older deeds, ads and plenty of locals still say “San Pablo” for both. The canton touches Heredia’s central canton to the west, Santo Domingo to the south, San Rafael to the north and San Isidro to the east. National routes 5, 112, 115 and 503 all cross the district, and the drive south through La Puebla toward Santo Domingo and San José is where the rush-hour queues build.

The place was first written down in 1782 as Sabanilla de Villalobos, then a barrio of Heredia. Its saint’s name came in 1818, when church and civil authorities shared out patron saints among Heredia’s districts by drawing lots, and it took until 18 July 1961 for San Pablo to become a canton of its own. The old chapel faces the Plaza Edwin León Villalobos with a bell brought from England in 1887 and a statue of Saint Paul by Fadrique Gutiérrez on top; today it is the Templo de la Asunción. The bigger parish church in front of the football ground took from 1912 to 1954 to finish. Barrio Las Cruces, on the road to San Isidro, is named after the crosses families put up for the cholera victims of 1856, some thousand of whom are buried there.

San Pablo is a dormitory district. Many residents work in Heredia, in the business parks around it or in San José, and local trade is neighbourhood-sized: bazaars, pulperías, grocery stores, bars and restaurants spread through the barrios instead of lining one high street. The streets never followed a grid, so the centre is a knot of short blocks around the two churches and the municipal building on Calle 6. On Ruta 112, the Heredia–San Isidro road, the Universidad Nacional runs its Complejo San Pablo, where a 1,000-seat auditorium hosts graduations and congresses. The university’s main campus in central Heredia is a short trip away.

Close to 20,000 people live in the district, in barrios such as Las Cruces, Las Joyas, Uriche, La Amelia, Las Quintanas and Nueva Jerusalén, part of La Puebla and María Auxiliadora, and urbanizaciones like San Martín, Las Brisas and Los Hidalgos. Much of that housing went up in the second half of the twentieth century, as San Pablo turned from a village into a suburb of the metropolitan area. Buyers are mostly Costa Rican households who want to live inside the city, with the supermarket, the school and the bus within walking distance. Investors look for small apartments they can let to young professionals and to people tied to the university.

Houses in San Pablo:

Most houses here belong to an urbanización: compact homes on lots of a hundred-odd square metres, often on a dead-end street, with a carport at the front. One recent example near the La Puebla school had 110 square metres built on a lot of the same size. Houses inside gated condominiums are the other format, with shared security and parking and the monthly fee that comes with them. When you compare houses for sale in San Pablo de Heredia, look at the street as hard as the house. A quiet cul-de-sac and a frontage on one of the through routes are very different places to live.

Apartments in San Pablo:

With so little free land, a growing share of the new housing comes as apartments. Condominio Los Volcanes is built in towers, and it is a good example of what the district offers: a common layout is two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony and one residential parking space. Some sellers of apartments for sale in San Pablo de Heredia accept cash only, so check early whether a unit can be financed. Ask for the condominium’s rules and the current monthly fee before you make an offer.

Rentals in San Pablo:

The rental market here runs on apartments. Many are small units in residenciales and condominiums, pitched at one or two adults with a single parking space. Tenants are people who work in Heredia and San José, along with staff and students linked to the Universidad Nacional. If you are buying to let, a unit within walking distance of the main roads and the bus routes is the easier one to fill.

Land and Lots in San Pablo:

Vacant land is scarce in a district this built up, and what comes up is infill. Some lots sit inside existing condominiums, such as Condominio El Prado, and are offered to buyers who want to build a single house or a small block of apartments. Others are a few hundred square metres on a street front with mixed commercial and residential use, sold as much for a shop or office as for a home. Before you look at lots for sale in San Pablo, ask the Municipalidad de San Pablo for a land-use certificate. What you can put on a small urban lot depends on its zone, and inside a condominium on the condominium’s rules as well.

FAQ:

• Does this page cover the canton or the district of San Pablo?

  The district: San Pablo proper, postal code 40901, the first district of San Pablo canton in Heredia. The canton also includes Rincón de Sabanilla, with Miraflores as its head town. Costa Rica has other places called San Pablo too, in Nandayure and Turrubares among others, so check that the cadastral plan says Heredia and San Pablo canton.

• How do you get from San Pablo to San José?

  By car, the direct way runs south through La Puebla and Santo Domingo; the other option is to cross Heredia city and join the General Cañas highway. Both are short in distance and slow at rush hour, and the La Puebla stretch is known for its morning queues. Try the trip at the hour you will actually commute before you commit to a home.

• What should I check on the title of a property in San Pablo?

  Start with the 2008 split. A property now in Rincón de Sabanilla can still appear as San Pablo on older documents, so make sure the district on the cadastral plan and on the Registro Nacional record matches the address you are buying. In a condominium, look up the individual unit, read the condominium regulations and ask the administration for a statement showing the fees are paid up. Then get the land-use certificate from the Municipalidad de San Pablo.

• Is there still land to build on in San Pablo?

  Very little. What appears is infill: lots inside existing condominiums, small street-front parcels with mixed use, or an older house bought for its plot. That is why most new homes in the district are apartments.

• How close is the Universidad Nacional?

  Close. The main campus is in central Heredia, about a kilometre from the La Puebla side of the district, and the university’s Complejo San Pablo, with its large auditorium, sits on the Heredia–San Isidro road. That is also why small apartments here find tenants among staff and students.