Calle Blancos

About Calle Blancos:

Calle Blancos is the third district of Goicoechea: 2.36 square kilometres at 1,185 metres, on the north-east side of San José. It borders the canton of Moravia to the north and Tibás to the west, with Guadalupe to the east and San Francisco and Guadalupe again to the south. Five national roads run through it, Rutas 32, 39, 100, 109 and 201, so the Limón highway and the Circunvalación are both close at hand. The final stretch of the Circunvalación Norte was built between Tibás and Calle Blancos to tie the district into the three-level interchange over Ruta 32, the first of its kind in Costa Rica. Without a car, you have the San José–Calle Blancos buses, an express service among them, and the weekday commuter train on the Heredia–Alajuela line, which stops at the Calle Blancos station.

The district’s oldest name is San Gabriel. In 1828, when the municipality of San José divided the hamlets of the Murciélago valley, a judge called Gabriel Solís named his settlement after that saint, and San Gabriel is still one of the district’s barrios. Calle Blancos has been part of Goicoechea since the canton was created on 6 August 1891, and the 1892 count found 580 people living here. By 1950 there were 5,800, by 1963 almost 11,000, and the figure peaked at 19,411 in 2000. The 2022 census counted 16,894, so the population has been easing down even as the business parks grew.

Industry sits mainly in San Gabriel, La Concretera, Progreso and the centre of the district. Coca-Cola FEMSA runs its plant and its Central American offices here and opened a new bottling line in May 2026; Calox, Café Dorado, Amazon and Teletech also have operations in the district. The Parque Empresarial del Este, a free zone with more than 25 years behind it, took the name 100Este in August 2026, after the Ruta 100 it faces, and announced a mixed-use plan with new offices, shops, a tower, green space and housing. Add the Centro Corporativo El Tobogán, the SENARA offices and the RACSA teleport, and a large share of the people on these streets at midday came in from elsewhere. Shopping is spread between Mall El Dorado, Plaza San Gabriel and the Centro Comercial Montelimar.

Away from the warehouses, the district runs on schools and sport. The Escuela Doctor Ferraz and the CTP de Calle Blancos are public; Saint Anthony High School, Saint Vincent School and Santa Mónica School are private options within the district. The Polideportivo de Calle Blancos and the cancha in the centre are where weekends happen, and in 2024 the municipality and the mUEve project rebuilt 500 metres of sidewalk from the cancha towards the Edica offices, with new traffic lights, accessible corners and three small green areas. Buyers tend to be families who want to stay close to San José and to their jobs, owners who want a house they can also run a business from, and investors after a building that already pays rent.

Houses in Calle Blancos:

Montelimar has the roomier stock: single-storey houses on lots that can pass 300 square metres, some with residential and commercial land use and close to the Goicoechea courts. Elsewhere lots are tighter, often under 200 square metres, and the format you see again and again is a main house with an independent apartment, or two homes stacked on one lot with the second on the upper floor. A house with an apartment in Calle Blancos lets the rent from the second unit help with the mortgage, and where the land use is mixed, the front room can become a shop or an office. Check that every unit on the lot has its own permits before you count on that income.

Apartment Buildings in Calle Blancos:

Small rental buildings are a real category here. Four-unit buildings in Montelimar come up for sale fully let, and there are larger ones with nine rooms and several bathrooms built out on under 300 square metres of land. If you are looking at income property in Calle Blancos, ask for the current leases and the payment history, and compare the built area against the approved plans, since extra units are often added over the years.

Rentals in Calle Blancos:

Tenants are mostly people who work at the free zone, the plant or the offices nearby and want to walk or take one bus. The usual offer is a two-bedroom apartment of around 70 square metres in Montelimar or near the centre, plus rooms and small consulting rooms for professionals. If you want a furnished tower apartment with a pool and gym, Bambú Rivera stands just over the line in Cinco Esquinas de Tibás, opposite the Clínica Clorito Picado. For apartments for rent in Calle Blancos, try the walk to the train station or the bus stop at rush hour before you sign.

FAQ:

• Is the property really in Calle Blancos, or in Tibás or Guadalupe?

  Ask, because the edges are blurry. Colonia Florida and Esquivel Bonilla are shared with Guadalupe, and buildings sold as “Calle Blancos” sometimes sit in Cinco Esquinas, which belongs to Tibás. The district’s postal code is 10803, and the cadastral plan settles which district and canton a lot belongs to.

• What should I check before buying a house next to a warehouse or factory?

  Start with the certificado de uso de suelo from the Municipalidad de Goicoechea, because in barrios such as San Gabriel, La Concretera and Progreso a residential lot can sit beside an industrial one, and the canton’s plan regulador is being rewritten. Visit on a weekday morning to hear the trucks for yourself. Then confirm the owner, any liens or mortgages and the cadastral plan at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario).

• Can I get around Calle Blancos without a car?

  Yes. Buses on the San José–Calle Blancos route, including an express, connect with the city centre, and the Heredia–Alajuela commuter train stops at the Calle Blancos station on weekdays. Rutas 32 and 39 put Limón and the rest of the Circunvalación within reach by car.

• What does 100Este mean for housing in the district?

  It is the new name, since August 2026, of the Parque Empresarial del Este free zone, and its owners plan to turn it into a place to live and work, with offices, shops, a mixed-use tower and residences. The plan has been announced but not built, so treat it as a future change to the neighbourhood rather than stock you can buy now.

• Are there schools within the district?

  Several. The Escuela Doctor Ferraz and the Colegio Técnico Profesional de Calle Blancos are public, and Saint Anthony High School, Saint Vincent School and Santa Mónica School are private.