Sánchez

About Sánchez:

Sánchez covers about 4.5 square kilometres at 1,250 metres, on the eastern side of Curridabat. Granadilla and the district of Curridabat lie to the north, Curridabat district also runs along the west, Tirrases is to the south, and the eastern edge is the canton line with La Unión, in Cartago province. Four national roads cross it: the Florencio del Castillo highway (Route 2) plus Routes 221, 251 and 252. The San José–Cartago interurban train line passes through as well. That puts Sánchez at the hinge between eastern San José and Tres Ríos, close to both and sharing their rush-hour traffic.

The district is as old as the canton. It was one of the four named when Curridabat was created on 21 August 1929, alongside the villa of Curridabat, Granadilla and Tirrases, and the canton opened with its first council session on 1 January 1930. For decades Sánchez stayed rural, with 564 people in 1950 and still fewer than 900 in 1973. Then families from central San José moved steadily east through the second half of the twentieth century, first to Los Yoses and later out to Curridabat, Pinares and Tres Ríos, and old coffee farms were turned into residential estates. The population passed 3,100 in 2000 and 5,300 in 2011, and the current estimate is close to 7,000.

Pinares, built out in successive stages, and Lomas de Ayarco, split into Norte and Sur, form the core of the district. Around them sit part of Araucarias, La Ítaba, Tacaco and smaller gated communities such as Tierras del Este. Momentum Pinares, across from Walmart Curridabat, brings together restaurants, banks, a medical tower, offices, the Teatro Espressivo and a Hyatt Place hotel, so many errands never leave the district. Schools are the other anchor: the Colegio Internacional Canadiense, Iribó, Yorkín, Saint Peter’s High School and the Sistema Educativo Whitman are all inside Sánchez, with Iribó and Yorkín on the same road in Lomas de Ayarco Sur.

At roughly 1,500 people per square kilometre, Sánchez is far less crowded than the districts around it, and the market shows it. Most of what is for sale was built for families who want a garden, a guarded entrance and a short school run. Some of the larger homes in Lomas de Ayarco stand on plots of well over 1,000 square metres. At the other end, Ayarco Sur and the small condominiums of Pinares offer two- and three-bedroom houses for a fraction of what the big residences ask.

Houses in Sánchez:

Houses here fall into three groups. At the top are the residences of Lomas de Ayarco, where four or five bedrooms are common, and in Lomas de Ayarco Sur some reach 600 square metres of construction on plots of 1,600. Pinares and Lomas de Ayarco also have small condominiums of two, four or six houses, with three or four bedrooms each, where a handful of owners share the gate and the upkeep. Single-storey family homes and two-bedroom houses in Ayarco Sur make up the more modest end. When comparing houses for sale in Sánchez de Curridabat, ask for the plot area as well as the built area, because two houses of similar size can sit on very different amounts of land.

Apartments and Rentals in Sánchez:

Renting in Sánchez usually means a two-bedroom apartment in one of the condominiums of Pinares, some of them four-storey buildings set among the houses, or a condo house in Lomas de Ayarco. A few units are on the ground floor, worth asking about if you would rather skip the stairs. Now and then a whole small apartment building comes up for sale, for buyers after rental income. Before signing a lease, confirm whether the condominium fee is included and how many parking spaces belong to the unit.

Land and Lots in Sánchez:

Nearly every lot in Sánchez sits inside a residential or gated community. In Lomas de Ayarco they run from corner plots of under 300 square metres behind two controlled entrances to parcels of about 1,200 square metres, some made up of two adjoining lots. The Avenida del Este condominium, also in Lomas de Ayarco, sells flat lots from 250 square metres for buyers who want to build their own house under the community’s rules. Larger pieces in Lomas de Ayarco Sur are occasionally offered for commercial or mixed use. Density rules change within the district, so confirm the zone and the permitted coverage for that specific finca before you pay an architect.

New Developments in Sánchez:

Avenida del Este is the clearest case of new building in the district: a gated community of contemporary three- and four-bedroom houses with a clubhouse, heated pool, gym, co-working area, sports courts, fully underground power lines and round-the-clock security, 200 metres from Ciudad del Este. Elsewhere, new homes arrive mostly as custom houses on lots inside the existing residentials and as condominiums of just a few units. Before you reserve, find out whether the clubhouse and pool already belong to the owners or are still held by the developer.

FAQ:

• Is Pinares in Sánchez or in Curridabat?

  Both. Pinares is a neighbourhood of the district of Sánchez, which is one of the four districts of the canton of Curridabat, so listings tend to say “Pinares, Curridabat”. Some condominiums just across the canton line are also marketed under the Pinares name, but they belong to La Unión, in Cartago province, with a different municipality. The cadastral plan should read San José, Curridabat, Sánchez, and the district’s postal code is 11803.

• What should I check before buying a lot in Lomas de Ayarco?

  Start with the zoning. Curridabat’s 1993 urban plan splits the canton into density zones, and the zone a lot falls in sets how many homes it can carry, how much of it you can cover and how high you can build. Ask the Municipalidad de Curridabat for a land-use certificate, read the residential or condominium rules, and pull the title study and cadastral plan from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario). If the lot backs onto a stream, find out how much of it falls inside the protected strip.

• Which schools are inside Sánchez?

  The Colegio Internacional Canadiense in Ayarco Sur; Iribó School and Yorkín School, girls’ and boys’ schools teaching the International Baccalaureate, in Lomas de Ayarco Sur; plus Saint Peter’s High School and the Sistema Educativo Whitman. If a school is the reason you are buying, drive the route at drop-off time before you choose a street.

• How do I get from Sánchez to San José or Cartago?

  The Florencio del Castillo highway heads west toward San José and east toward Tres Ríos and Cartago. Routes 221 and 251 link the district with central Curridabat, Concepción and the Tres Ríos side. The San José–Cartago train line crosses Sánchez, so check which stop is nearest to the street you are considering.