Tirrases

About Tirrases:

Tirrases is the fourth district of Curridabat and the smallest, 1.88 square kilometres on the southern edge of the canton at an average of 1,175 metres. Curridabat district and Sánchez lie to the north, Río Azul and San Juan of La Unión to the east, and Desamparados to the south and west, with San Francisco de Dos Ríos also on the boundary. National routes 210 and 211 cross the district, and its postal code is 11804. Two bus lines run to downtown San José, one by way of Curridabat and one through San Francisco de Dos Ríos, from four in the morning until after eight at night.

The name comes from the tirrá, the Huetar word for the Central American elm that once grew thickly here. In 1880 the area was a handful of medium-sized farms owned by a few families. The Las Mercedes leprosarium went up from 1907 on land donated by a woman remembered only as doña Mercedes, and over the years it added a house for the nuns, a chapel and more wards before it closed in 1980. Houses began to spread in the 1960s from near the bridge over the Tiribí: La Trinidad from 1966, La Colina from 1967 and, from 1975, Lomas de San Pancracio, which everyone calls El Hogar after the builder whose sign stood at the entrance.

The population jumped from 1,453 in 1973 to 5,775 in 1984 and 15,826 in 2000, and it has held at about 16,000 since. Part of that growth took place on vacant land that did not belong to the people who settled it, and titled urbanizaciones and informal sectors still sit side by side. Daily life runs through two public primary schools, Escuela Centroamérica and Escuela Quince de Agosto, and the Colegio Técnico Profesional Uladislao Gámez Solano, which has had new buildings since 2014 and teaches accounting, secretarial work, IT support and software development. The EBAIS clinic works from two buildings, one in Hacienda Vieja and one on Calle Mercedes opposite the INA, and the parish of Santa Eduviges has chapels in Las Mercedes and La Trinidad.

At more than 8,500 people per square kilometre, Tirrases is far denser than Curridabat as a whole. Most of the stock suits a household on a tight budget: modest family houses, small lots and apartments for one or two people. Prices and street conditions change from sector to sector, from La Colina and El Hogar to La Ponderosa, Valle del Sol, Quince de Agosto or Cuatro Calles, so judge a house by its block rather than by the district name. Calle Las Mercedes and the main roads also have warehouses and yards for rent, which gives the district a small market in business premises of its own.

Houses in Tirrases:

Most houses for sale are in the urbanizaciones built between the 1960s and the 1980s, such as La Colina, El Hogar and La Trinidad: single-family homes on small lots, some of them on two floors. A smaller group sits inside gated condominiums, with two-storey houses of 220 to 250 square metres built on lots of about 170 and parking for two cars. If you are comparing houses for sale in Tirrases, ask which parts of the building have a municipal permit. A bank will value the house against the approved plans, and anything built outside them makes the loan harder.

Rentals in Tirrases:

Small apartments make up most of the rental market: studios and one-bedroom units for one person or a couple, some with utilities included, and two-bedroom apartments in La Colina. Whole houses to rent come up less often. The big advantage of these apartments for rent in Tirrases is the direct bus to San José. Ask how many blocks it is to the stop and walk it yourself, because the district is built over hills.

Land and Lots in Tirrases:

Land here is bought to build on, and it comes in three sizes. Residential plots of 400 to 600 square metres come up from time to time, including flat ones zoned for mixed use. Commercial lots of 800 square metres or more with two street fronts are offered for shops and services. A few parcels of 2,000 to 3,000 square metres are pitched at developers, sometimes under the Hacienda Vieja name. Before you buy any of these lots in Tirrases, Curridabat, have the municipality confirm what the plan regulador allows on that particular finca.

Warehouses and Commercial Property in Tirrases:

Tirrases has an industrial side as well. Warehouses of 2,600 to more than 4,300 square metres appear for rent, some with three-phase power, along with open yards for trucks and machinery. They sit close to the national routes that cross the district, and Calle Las Mercedes has warehouses of its own. Check which residential streets a heavy vehicle has to use to reach the gate, and confirm that your particular activity fits the land use of the property.

FAQ:

• How can I tell whether a house in Tirrases has clean title?

  Start with the history of the street. Several sectors grew on land that did not belong to the people who settled it, and some of that land is state property, so a house can stand for decades without a title of its own. Ask for the folio real in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) in the seller’s name, a cadastral plan that matches the boundaries on the ground, and proof that taxes owed to the Municipalidad de Curridabat are paid up. A house sold only with rights of possession, without a registered finca, will not qualify for a bank loan and is hard to resell.

• Are there parts of Tirrases at risk of landslides?

  Yes. The Miravalles 2 sector, on land next to the north slope of the old Río Azul landfill, has been declared unfit for housing because of its high vulnerability to landslides, backed by technical reports going back to 2007. If a property sits on a steep street or near a creek, look at the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias hazard map for the canton, inspect the retaining walls and drainage of the lot, and make sure the building keeps clear of the protected strip along the watercourse.

• What can I build on a lot in Tirrases?

  Curridabat zones its land by transects, bands defined by the urban form the municipality wants, and it keeps a density map just for Tirrases, so two lots a few blocks apart can carry different rules. Get the certificado de uso de suelo for that finca before you sign. Ask too whether the latest changes to the canton’s plan regulador are in force yet, since they can shift what is allowed.

• How do I get from Tirrases to San José?

  Two bus lines run to the centre: San José–Tirrases through Curridabat, which starts from the terminal next to the ADI Tirrases, and the Tirrases line through San Francisco de Dos Ríos. Through most of the day a bus leaves every 12 to 20 minutes. By car, the usual way out is north through Hacienda Vieja to Curridabat.