Pozos

About Pozos:

Pozos is the northern district of Santa Ana canton and has been one since the canton was created in 1907. It covers a little over 13 square kilometres and borders Belén and Alajuela to the north, Escazú to the east, the district of Brasil to the west, and Santa Ana centre and Uruca to the south. Route 27, the highway from San José to the Pacific, crosses the district, Route 147, known locally as the Radial Lindora, links Santa Ana with Belén and the airport side of the valley, and Route 310 is the third national road through it. The Radial is being widened to five lanes in stages, and the new five-lane bridge over the Río Corrogres inside Pozos has been open since the end of 2025. Even so, expect slow traffic along Lindora at peak hours.

Daily life runs along Lindora. The strip holds the Momentum Lindora and Terrazas de Lindora shopping centres, supermarkets, banks, restaurants, car showrooms and hotels such as the Aloft and the Holiday Inn Express. The Parque Empresarial Forum, beside Route 27, is home to the Bolsa Nacional de Valores and a long roster of company offices, while Forum 2 sits on the Radial next to the Automercado, about 8 kilometres from Juan Santamaría airport. Hospital Metropolitano runs a 24-hour site 300 metres north of the Pozos church. Away from the main road, the older centre still turns around the Inmaculada Concepción parish, whose patron saint fiestas fill the first part of December.

The ground explains the name: the north of Santa Ana is flat and clayey, and before it was built on it filled with puddles and boggy patches, the pozos the district is called after. The average altitude is around 850 metres, and the land climbs toward Alto de las Palomas near the Escazú line, where the residential estates keep more of their trees. Part of the district was once the hacienda La Lindora; in the 1960s its owner, Marcial Aguiluz, turned a section into Lagos de Lindora, a public recreation ground with a one-hectare lake, rowing boats, a pool and horses, and the site is now the Lagos de Lindora housing estate. The barrios you will see on addresses are Alto Palomas, Concepción, Cuevas, Chispa, Gavilanes, Honduras, Lindora, Manantial and Valle del Sol, plus parts of Lajas and Real de Pereira.

Growth came late and then all at once. Pozos had 1,194 people in 1950, and by 2000 it had passed 9,000. Most of the jump came with the business parks, malls and residential projects that went up along Lindora from the turn of the century. Buyers fall into two broad groups: families and executives paying for space, security and a golf or forest setting in the large gated estates, and professionals or smaller households buying a condominium apartment or townhouse close to work. Tenants are mostly staff of the companies in Forum and along Lindora, many of whom want an office a few minutes away rather than a commute across the city.

Houses in Pozos:

The top of the market is in two estates. Residencial Parque Valle del Sol is laid out around an 18-hole golf course, and many of its houses back straight onto the fairways; these are big homes with three to six bedrooms and generous gardens. Bosques de Lindora is gated with round-the-clock security, a clubhouse with a pool and tennis courts, and single-level houses are common there on lots of 900 to 2,000 m². Further down the price scale, the houses for sale in Pozos are mostly two-storey homes in smaller condominiums such as Vía Nova, with around 300 m² of land, shared amenities and a monthly fee. Outside the gates, a few older houses on their own lots have room for a separate apartment with its own entrance to let.

Apartments in Pozos:

Apartments for sale are almost all inside condominiums with security, a pool or gym and covered or basement parking. The common unit has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 90 to 120 m², as in Monte Sol or Kuora, and they sell both to owner-occupiers and to buyers who plan to rent them out. New projects are sold off plan, with the deposit split over the months until delivery and the condominium fee set per square metre. Prices are usually given in dollars while the maintenance fee is often set in colones, so add the two together in one currency.

Rentals in Pozos:

Pozos rents mainly to people who work nearby. Furnished one- and two-bedroom apartments in condominiums with pools, gyms and social areas make up much of the supply, with parking included and rent set in US dollars. Two- and three-bedroom condominium houses are let too, in projects such as Vistas de Lindora, and fully furnished studios turn up for single tenants. The apartments for rent in Lindora sit close to Forum 2, Momentum and the supermarkets on the Radial, and that closeness is much of what tenants pay for.

Land and Lots in Pozos:

Land comes in three sizes. In Alto de las Palomas, the gated Eco Residencial Villa Real sells lots of roughly 1,700 to 2,000 m² to people building one large house among the trees. Small gated projects offer lots from about 150 m² on an internal street, sized for a family home, and elsewhere in the district parcels of several thousand square metres are marketed for development. The lots for sale in Pozos are priced in dollars. On hillside plots the area you can actually build on may be a fraction of the total, so ask for the usable figure before you compare prices.

Offices and Commercial Space in Pozos:

Pozos is one of the best-known office addresses in the west of the Central Valley. Parque Empresarial Forum on Route 27 and Forum 2 on the Radial both lease office space, and Forum 2 has two entrances from Lindora and one from Pozos. Retail units are found in the shopping centres along the Radial, among them the Centro Comercial Lindora by Garnier & Garnier, 125 metres west of Momentum. Tenants here count on passing traffic from the Radial and on the daytime population of the business parks.

FAQ:

• Is Lindora a separate town from Pozos?

  No. Lindora is a barrio of Pozos, and the name has spread to the whole commercial strip along Route 147, so two neighbouring properties may be advertised as “Lindora” and “Pozos”. Whichever name the advert uses, the property falls under Santa Ana’s municipal government.

• What should I check before buying a lot in Pozos?

  Start with water. The district is named after the puddles that formed on its flat clay ground, so on low, level lots ask how storm water drains away and whether a soil study has been done. On the slopes of Alto de las Palomas, confirm how much of the plot is buildable and what the land-use certificate allows, since a lot can be cleared for a single house, for shops, or both. Then match the cadastral plan against the title at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) before you pay a deposit.

• How do I get to San José and the airport from Pozos?

  By car, Route 27 runs east to San José and west toward the Pacific, and the Radial Lindora (Route 147) heads north to Belén and the airport side of the valley. Forum 2 is about 8 kilometres from Juan Santamaría airport. Both roads are heavy at rush hour, so drive the route at the time you will actually make it before you commit to an address.

• Can I buy a house on a golf course in Pozos?

  Yes. Residencial Parque Valle del Sol is built around an 18-hole course, and many of its houses have gardens that open onto the fairways. The course takes tee-time bookings and runs a golf academy. Ask about the monthly fee for security and common areas before you make an offer.

• Is there a hospital in Pozos?

  Yes. Hospital Metropolitano has its Lindora site 300 metres north of the Pozos church, open 24 hours. For the weekly shop, there is the Automercado next to Forum 2 and the shopping centres along the Radial.