San Rafael

About San Rafael:

San Rafael is the northern district of Escazú canton, a little over 13 square kilometres between the canton of Santa Ana to the west, the districts of Escazú and San Antonio to the south and the canton of San José to the northeast. Route 27, the toll highway from San José to the Pacific port of Caldera, cuts straight across it, and its exits at Multiplaza and Guachipelín are the front door to most of the district. Five more national roads run through San Rafael, so few addresses are more than a short drive from the highway. The catch is that everyone shares the same few ramps and the side road beside the mall. Drive your commute at the hour you will actually make it before you settle on a street.

This is where much of the west of the Central Valley comes to shop, see a doctor and go to work. Multiplaza Escazú still anchors the highway frontage, and Avenida Escazú beside it was the first urban mixed-use development in Costa Rica, with offices, shops, restaurants and the medical tower of Hospital CIMA. CIMA itself, open since 2000, is one of the country’s main private hospitals and runs a 24-hour emergency department. Plaza Roble and Plaza Tempo hold corporate offices, Distrito Cuatro and Escazú Village put supermarkets and cafés at street level, and the Real Intercontinental, the Sheraton and the Wyndham Garden add three large hotels to the same district.

San Rafael has been one of Escazú’s districts since the canton was created by decree on 7 December 1848. Its centre is the church of San Rafael Arcángel, designed by Teodorico Quirós on land that Josefa Saborío Badilla gave in 1943. President Otilio Ulate attended the laying of the first stone on 2 July 1950, the first mass was said in 1955, and the church became a parish in its own right in 1996. For most of its history the district was small: 1,529 people in 1950, then 10,258 by 1984 and 21,971 at the 2011 census, as greater San José spread west. Addresses name the barrios of Anonos, Centro, Guachipelín, Honduras, Los Laureles, Maynard, Palma de Mallorca, Santa Marta, Tena, Trejos Montealegre and Vista Alegre, plus parts of Bello Horizonte and Villa Real.

San Rafael draws residents from far beyond Escazú. At the 2011 census, 29 per cent of the people living here had been born abroad, with Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, the United States and Mexico at the top of the list. Families come for the schools as much as for the houses: Royal School, Saint Mary School, Mount View School, Washington School and Lighthouse International School are all inside the district. Executives working in the offices along Route 27 rent close by, investors buy apartments to let to them, and buyers who want a garden and a quiet street look to Trejos Montealegre, Guachipelín or the streets around the Costa Rica Country Club, whose golf course has been part of San Rafael for some seven decades.

Houses in San Rafael:

Trejos Montealegre is the barrio people mean when they want an independent house here. Its residential streets hold family homes of two storeys and a few large modern houses of four or more bedrooms on generous lots, a short walk from Avenida Escazú. Some properties carry two houses on the same lot, which suits an extended family or an owner who wants to let one of them. In Guachipelín most houses sit inside gated condominiums, from four-bedroom townhouses to detached family homes with shared gardens and a monthly fee. When you compare houses for sale in San Rafael de Escazú, weigh the cost of a gate and a guard against the land and freedom of a house on its own street.

Apartments in San Rafael:

Apartment living in San Rafael is mostly vertical and comes with amenities. Escazú Village is a tower community in Trejos Montealegre, a few steps from Avenida Escazú, with one- and two-bedroom units and shared facilities. The two twelve-storey towers of Torres del Country look out over the golf course, and in Guachipelín the apartments above Distrito Cuatro have a supermarket, cafés and offices downstairs. Larger units turn up too, such as penthouses in the Valle Arriba condominium. Apartments for sale in San Rafael are priced in US dollars, so put the condominium fee into your sums from the first viewing.

Rentals in San Rafael:

Most rentals here are furnished and let by the month. One- and two-bedroom apartments in Escazú Village, Distrito Cuatro and the buildings near CIMA go to professionals and newcomers who want the offices, the hospital and the mall within reach. Families rent three-bedroom condominium houses in Guachipelín, many of them in complexes long popular with foreign tenants. Older two-bedroom apartments in the smaller residenciales of Guachipelín rent for much less than the towers. Rents are quoted in dollars, so check whether the condominium fee, water and internet are included before you compare two offers.

Land and Lots in San Rafael:

Land is scarce but not gone. In Guachipelín, gated developments such as Estancias de Guachipelín sell flat lots of 350 to 450 square metres with underground cabling and a clubhouse, sized for one family home. Larger flat lots inside smaller gated residentials, some beside a creek, come up from time to time, and so do development parcels of several thousand square metres with mixed-use, high-density zoning. Escazú’s plan regulador gives vertical projects in San Rafael, and only in this district, extra density in exchange for a private wastewater treatment plant. Anyone pricing lots for sale in Guachipelín with a building in mind should read the zone table before the asking price.

New Developments in San Rafael:

Buying off plan is common in the district. Condominio Positano is on sale in the middle of San Rafael, close to Route 27, and in Guachipelín projects such as Dukana and CAIA offer apartments with shared amenities inside a gated condominium. Each of these sells to two kinds of buyer, people who will live in the unit and investors who plan to let it furnished. Ask the developer for the construction permit, the expected delivery date and the projected condominium fee in writing, and visit a building they have already finished.

Offices and Commercial Space in San Rafael:

Office space is a market of its own in San Rafael, built around the highway and the mall. Avenida Escazú, Plaza Roble and Plaza Tempo lease office floors, and the CIMA towers are full of medical consulting rooms. Retail space runs from units inside Multiplaza to street-level shops in Distrito Cuatro and Escazú Village, where the residents upstairs and the offices nearby bring the foot traffic. Ask early how much parking comes with the space, because your clients will need it.

FAQ:

• Should I look in Guachipelín or in Trejos Montealegre?

  It depends on the kind of home you want. Guachipelín is condominium country: gated houses and townhouses, the apartments of Distrito Cuatro, most of the new projects and the last flat lots. Trejos Montealegre has more independent houses on their own streets, plus Escazú Village, and it is the part of the district where you can walk to Avenida Escazú. Visit both on a weekday evening, when traffic shows you how each one really works.

• What should I check before buying a lot or an older house in San Rafael?

  Start with the zone the property falls in under Escazú’s plan regulador. Part of Bello Horizonte is a special control zone where coverage stops at 35 per cent and height at 21 metres, the land around the Costa Rica Country Club has its own rules, and tall buildings in the approach area of Tobías Bolaños airport need their height cleared with Civil Aviation first. If a creek runs along the lot, find out how wide the protected strip is. Then match the plano catastrado against the record at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) for liens and easements before you pay a deposit.

• Can I live in San Rafael without a car?

  Only in a few pockets. Around Avenida Escazú, Escazú Village and Distrito Cuatro, shops, supermarkets, restaurants and offices are within walking distance. Most of the condominiums are built for driving, and reaching San José or the beaches means Route 27. If you want to walk, choose the building first and the price second.

• Which schools are in the district?

  A long list for one district. Royal School, Saint Mary School, Mount View School, Washington School, Arandú School, Lighthouse International School, Centro Educativo San Agustín, West College and Colegio Valle Azul are all here, along with the public Escuela-Colegio Presbítero Yanuario Quesada Madriz. Check the school run at peak hour before you sign for a house across the highway from it.

• Is there a hospital close by?

  Yes, inside the district. Hospital CIMA has been open since 2000, runs a 24-hour emergency department, and has consulting towers beside Avenida Escazú where many specialists see patients. For a family with young children, that is a short drive rather than a trip across the city.