Colón

About Colón:

Colón covers about 40 km² at the western end of San José province. It borders Alajuela canton to the north, Santa Ana to the east, Piedras Negras to the west and Quitirrisí to the south, and the centre of Ciudad Colón sits at around 840 metres. Ruta 27 crosses the north of the district at Brasil de Mora, where the Ciudad Colón toll stands, and links it with Santa Ana, Escazú and San José in one direction and the Pacific coast in the other. Ruta 239 leaves town to the south for Puriscal. Comtrasuli buses run to San José throughout the day, ending at their terminal on Calle 20 between Avenidas 3 and 5.

The town was Villa Pacaca when Mora became a canton in 1883, took the name Villa Colón, after Columbus, in 1916, and has held the rank of ciudad since 1970. Its centre is compact and easy to walk: the Parque Juan Rafael Mora Porras, the parish church of the Asunción, the municipal building and the old wooden market. Neighbours built that market in the early twentieth century with their own labour and timber from local farms. Declared architectural heritage in 1994, it now hosts fairs, concerts and producers’ markets, while the farmers’ market sets up every Saturday morning. Two large supermarkets, banks, pharmacies, the EBAIS, a municipal library and schools such as the Liceo de Colón and the Colegio Técnico Profesional de Mora cover daily life.

North and west of town the land falls away toward the Virilla, the Quebrada Honda and the Jaris. This is the country of the El Rodeo protected zone, declared in 1976 over some 2,350 hectares and holding one of the last large stands of original forest in the Central Valley. The University for Peace sits inside it, about 7 km from the centre, with around 550 graduate students and a recreational park open to visitors, where there is a hummingbird observatory and kayaking. Closer in, the Colón waterfall is a walk of under 2 km from the park. The hills around town are used for riding, mountain biking, running and hiking.

Some 17,000 people live in the district, even though it lost ground when Jaris became a district of its own in 2012 and Quitirrisí followed in 2014. Families who have been in the canton for generations live alongside an international population tied to the university, and Ruta 27 makes the town workable for anyone with a job in Santa Ana, Escazú or Lindora. Day to day it costs less than Santa Ana or Escazú and still feels like a small town, which is a large part of its pull for foreign residents. Barrios such as San Bosco, Carreras, Michoacán, Alhambra and Colonia del Prado hold most of the town housing, while Brasil and Nuevo Brasil, beside the motorway, are home to many of the larger view properties.

Houses in Colón:

In and around the centre, homes are mostly one- and two-storey family houses on modest lots, many of them in older barrios within walking distance of the park and the bus. Gated condominiums add three-bedroom houses on lots of around 250 m², with a monthly maintenance fee. Out on the hillsides there are mountain houses on several thousand square metres, some of them sold as projects to remodel. The top of the market is in Brasil de Mora: single-level homes on 1,500 m² and large residences on close to a hectare looking over the canyon. Among houses for sale in Ciudad Colón, the further you go from the centre and Ruta 239, the more land you get and the more you will depend on a car.

Rentals in Colón:

Rental demand has a clear source: the University for Peace. Students and visiting faculty take furnished lofts and studios in El Rodeo, the settlement closest to campus, or rooms and apartments in town, where shops and buses are within walking distance. The university runs its own furnished apartments and studios, so private landlords compete with it on location, space and price. Family houses also come up for long-term rent, sometimes offered for sale or rent at the same time. If you are weighing apartments for rent in Ciudad Colón without a car, keep in mind that El Rodeo is about 5 km above town, although taxis are easy to find.

Land and Lots in Colón:

Land comes in three broad kinds. Near the Ruta 27 toll in Brasil de Mora there are flat, regular building lots of a few hundred square metres, and development parcels of several thousand square metres with multifamily land use and views across the valley. On the hills above Brasil, view lots of 1,400 to 2,000 m² are the usual size for one custom-built house. Toward El Rodeo, quintas of around a hectare and a half and haciendas of dozens of hectares appear, often with forest on part of the land. That forest can limit where you build, so judge lots for sale in Colón de Mora by their usable area, not just their total size.

New Developments in Colón:

New building here is small in scale. Four blocks from the park, a gated project of 23 two-storey houses, each about 140 m² on a lot of about 150 m², is selling off-plan, with paved-block streets, underground wiring and its own treatment plant. In Brasil de Mora, compact condominium apartments and townhouses have gone up close to the motorway, alongside the larger homes. Buying before completion, ask for the building permit and the approved plans before you pay a reservation. Find out, too, who will run the treatment plant once the developer hands over.

FAQ:

• Is Ciudad Colón the same as Colón district?

  Ciudad Colón is the town; the district takes in the town plus Brasil de Mora, El Rodeo and hamlets such as Cabriola, Cedral, Llano León and Ticufres. Watch the address in Brasil: Brasil de Mora sits right beside Brasil de Santa Ana, which belongs to another canton with its own municipality, taxes and building rules, and sellers sometimes use the two names loosely.

• How do I get from Ciudad Colón to San José or the airport?

  By car, Ruta 27 runs east past Santa Ana and Escazú into San José and connects with the roads to the airport in Alajuela and to the Pacific at Caldera. By bus, Comtrasuli leaves from the centre for its San José terminal on Calle 20 throughout the day. Drive the route once at the hour you would commute before you decide.

• Can I build on a forested lot near El Rodeo or above the Virilla?

  Not freely. The El Rodeo protected zone takes in much of the land around the university, the Forestry Law bars changing the use of ground under forest, and springs and riverbanks carry protection strips where you cannot build. Get the land-use certificate from the Municipalidad de Mora, check the cadastral plan and the title at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and have a surveyor mark how much of the parcel is buildable before you sign.

• What does Ciudad Colón have, and what will I still drive to?

  The town covers the basics: two large supermarkets, banks, pharmacies, the EBAIS and the Mora health area, public and private schools, a library, a municipal gym and the Saturday farmers’ market. For shopping centres and hospital care, residents head along Ruta 27 toward Escazú and San José.