Anselmo Llorente

About Anselmo Llorente:

Llorente was split off from San Juan, the seat of Tibás, on 8 January 1953, and it is named after Anselmo Llorente y La Fuente, the first bishop of Costa Rica. The district sits at 1,155 metres on the northern side of the capital’s urban area, and it is crossed by more national roads than its size would suggest. Ruta 32, the highway to Guápiles and Limón, runs through it and passes under the Llorente overpass, and the northern Circunvalación (Ruta 39), which links Tibás with La Uruca and Calle Blancos, also cuts across it. Rutas 101, 102 and 117 complete the grid, and buses on the San José–Heredia route through Tibás and Santo Domingo stop right in front of the Grupo Nación building.

That building tells you what kind of district this is. La Nación, the company behind the newspaper of the same name, has its headquarters in Llorente, and in 2024 it agreed to let part of the site to the Grupo Extra media group. The Universidad de Iberoamérica, a private university focused on health sciences, teaches medicine, pharmacy, nursing, psychology and biomedical engineering here, and the Universidad Hispanoamericana also has a campus in Llorente. The Colegio de Ingenieros Agrónomos de Costa Rica is based in the district, and so are Kamuk School, which takes children from preschool through secondary, and the public Escuela Monseñor Anselmo Llorente y La Fuente. Weekly shopping happens at the PriceSmart, northeast of the Ruta 32 overpass, and at the Auto Mercado.

Across the road from PriceSmart stands the convent of the Hermanas de la Caridad de Santa Ana, who bought land in Llorente in 1953 and started building their noviciate the following year; it still runs a retreat house. Around these landmarks the district is a tight grid of residential barrios: Apolo, Dalia, Fletcher, Franjo, Jardines de Tibás, Monterreal, Palmeras, Santa Mónica, Talamanca, Villa Bonita and Villa Jade, plus residenciales such as Balcones del Río, Vía Real and Sol de Paiján. Barrio Nuevo is shared with San Juan, so an address there can fall in either district. Some homes back directly onto Ruta 32, and noise from the highway is worth judging in person.

Roughly 10,000 people live in Llorente, which works out at well over 7,000 per square kilometre. The count barely moved between the 2000 and 2011 censuses, 10,103 against 9,986, which is what a district with no spare land looks like. New homes now arrive as condominiums, either gated groups of houses such as Tibás Urbano or apartment towers, rather than as new urbanizaciones. The people looking here are families buying a house close to San José, owners who buy small units or rooming houses to let, and tenants who study or work at the campuses and offices.

Houses in Anselmo Llorente:

Most houses for sale sit in the older urbanizaciones. In Jardines de Tibás the typical home is a one-storey, three-bedroom house of around 145 square metres, and Residencial Don Carlos has three-bedroom houses of a similar scale. Larger houses for sale in Llorente de Tibás, with four bedrooms on plots of several hundred square metres, are found in the gated residenciales and are usually priced in dollars, while the smaller one-storey homes are more often listed in colones. Tibás Urbano, a gated condominium by Grupo Zen, was delivered with three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath houses of 138 square metres and two parking spaces each, and it has sold out, so its homes now come back only as resales.

Apartments in Anselmo Llorente:

Torres de Llorente, a condominium of towers backed by Corporación Raventós, is the best-known apartment address in the district: compact two-bedroom units of roughly 47 to 55 square metres, served by lifts and 400 metres from the Ruta 39 entrance. Condominio Villa Jade has larger three-bedroom apartments, some of them rented out fully furnished. Torres de Llorente was sold from the start as an investment close to the universities, and these apartments in Anselmo Llorente are let as often as they are lived in by their owners. Before you make an offer, ask whether the parking space is registered with the apartment or simply assigned by the condominium, because that affects what you can sell later.

Rentals in Anselmo Llorente:

The rental market runs from furnished rooms to furnished family apartments. Furnished rooms are advertised to students at UNIBE and the Hispanoamericana, while two-bedroom units in Torres de Llorente are let in colones with the condominium fee, security and water included, and sometimes internet as well. At the top end, furnished three-bedroom apartments in Villa Jade are quoted in dollars. When you compare rentals in Llorente de Tibás, line up exactly what each monthly price covers before you judge it.

Land and Lots in Anselmo Llorente:

Empty land is rare in a district this full. What does come up is a plot on one of the main roads, such as the stretch between PriceSmart and the Auto Mercado, where lots of more than 600 square metres already have services connected, or an older property sold together with a business, such as a rooming house. On the commercial roads, check that the use you have in mind is allowed at that address. Tibás is working on its plan regulador with public consultation, so ask the Municipalidad de Tibás for a land-use certificate before you agree a price.

FAQ:

• What should I check before buying a property next to Ruta 32 or the Circunvalación?

  Start with the road. Ask the MOPT for the alineamiento, which shows how far back from a national route you are allowed to build, and check whether any strip of the lot falls inside the road’s right of way. Then compare the plano catastrado with the record at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and visit at rush hour to hear what the highway sounds like from the bedroom.

• Which barrios belong to Llorente?

  Apolo, Dalia, Fletcher, Franjo, Jardines de Tibás, Monterreal, Palmeras, Santa Mónica, Talamanca, Villa Bonita and Villa Jade are all inside the district, along with residenciales such as Vía Real and Balcones del Río. Barrio Nuevo is split with San Juan. Many listings just say Tibás, so confirm the district on the cadastral plan.

• What kind of tenant does a small apartment near UNIBE attract?

  Mostly students on the health-sciences programmes at UNIBE and students at the Hispanoamericana, who look for furnished rooms or two-bedroom units to share. Furnished three-bedroom apartments draw households and professionals instead. If you are letting one, decide up front what the rent covers, since tenants here compare furnished, all-inclusive offers.

• How do I get from Llorente to central San José or Heredia?

  Ruta 32 heads south into central San José and north towards Guápiles. The Circunvalación takes you west to La Uruca and south to Calle Blancos. Buses between San José and Heredia through Tibás and Santo Domingo stop at the Grupo Nación building.

• Are new homes still being built in Llorente?

  New homes here come as condominiums rather than new urbanizaciones. Tibás Urbano has been delivered and sold, and Torres de Llorente is long finished, so most of what you will see is resale. If you want something new, ask whether a condominium plan has been approved before you pay a reservation.