La Alameda

About La Alameda:

You reach La Alameda from Vía Ricardo J. Alfaro, the avenue everyone still calls Tumba Muerto, by its main street, and the front exit brings you out by a Super 99 with a pharmacy, at the entrance to the Pribanco urbanización. The estate was built in two stages. La Alameda 1 lies to the right of the main street along Calle Orinoco, where the first houses went up, and La Alameda 2 lies to the left, past the Academia Hebrea, along Calle Las Huacas. Dos Mares, Las Mercedes and La Locería lie around it, and through them you reach the El Dorado boulevard and Avenida Juan Pablo II. The Corredor Norte, El Dorado Mall and the Siglo XXI shopping centre are all a short drive away.

Schools have shaped the barrio from the start. The Colegio Internacional de María Inmaculada, run by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate, opened its buildings here in May 1975, and the Academia Hebrea de Panamá, an Orthodox Jewish school on Calle Octavio A. de Icaza, opened in March 1979 with 56 pupils and now has a six-building campus. The Universidad Especializada del Contador Público Autorizado also sits inside La Alameda. The flip side is traffic. The estate was closed until the late 1990s, when the street towards Juan Pablo II opened, and since then drivers have used its narrow residential streets as a shortcut, with extra congestion at school drop-off times and during school events.

The ground rises and falls across the barrio, and that is visible in almost every house: split levels, terraces stepped down to the garden, and on the higher plots, views over the city and a good breeze. The streets, among them Calle Orinoco, Calle Atrato and Paseo de las Amazonas, are lined with mature trees, and several of the side streets end in quiet cul-de-sacs. Height has a practical cost, though. On the upper streets of La Alameda 1, water pressure from the mains can drop, which is why so many houses here have a reserve tank and a pump; some sellers point to tanks of 500 gallons.

The people who buy here are mostly families who want a large house close to the centre, and many of them chose the barrio for a school. Owners are protective of its residential character: the Asociación de Residentes de La Alameda was set up around 2012 to oppose rezoning for high density and shops on residential streets, and it has had businesses such as a nursery and a hostel closed for operating in houses. For a buyer, that is a useful signal that the interior streets are likely to stay as they are. Houses here sit in the upper band of Betania’s house prices, and an apartment near the avenue costs a fraction of what a house on one of the quiet streets does.

Apartments for sale in La Alameda:

The apartment stock is small and sits mostly near the avenue. PH Villa Verona, on the Ricardo J. Alfaro edge of the barrio, has two-bedroom, two-bathroom units of about 90 m² with a closed kitchen and laundry area, larger units of around 135 m², and a few units let as offices. Elsewhere you will find a ten-storey building with a concierge and security, where two-bedroom units run to about 100 m², and a gated complex with 129 m² apartments that open onto a terrace with a city view. Buying any of these apartments for sale in La Alameda means buying under propiedad horizontal: the unit is registered as its own finca in the Registro Público, together with a share of the common areas. You will pay a monthly cuota de mantenimiento, and the PH reglamento decides if you can rent out, keep pets or take short stays. Ask whether the parking space and any depósito have their own finca numbers or are only assigned, since that changes both the price and what you can sell later.

Apartments for rent in La Alameda:

Rental apartments here are mostly two-bedroom units, some with a maid’s room, let unfurnished with appliances or fully furnished on 12-month leases. Demand comes from families who want to be close to the schools in the barrio and from people who work along Ricardo J. Alfaro or in El Dorado. A few owners accept pets, as with a two-bedroom unit with a maid’s room across from María Inmaculada, but the reglamento of each building has the last word. Expect to pay the first month and a deposit up front, and check whether the unit has covered parking, because visitors will struggle to find space on the street at school times.

Houses in La Alameda:

Houses are what La Alameda is known for. Most houses for sale in La Alameda fall into two groups: four-level townhouses on lots of around 350 m², often with three bedrooms, a den or home office, a maid’s room, a small pool and two parking spaces, and detached houses on plots from about 700 m² upwards, with four or five bedrooms, several terraces, a pool and parking for four cars. A few go much further, such as a house of more than 870 m² built on a lot of over 2,000 m², or a main house with a one-bedroom guest house beside the pool. Many have been remodelled, and some are architect-designed, such as a house by Erik Wolfschoon. Houses also come up for rent, from corner duplexes of about 175 m² to large furnished homes, and most of them go to families on long leases. A house here sits outside any PH, so there is no cuota, but the generator, water tank, pump and security are the owner’s to run.

Frequently asked questions:

• Where does La Alameda begin and end?

  There is no signed boundary. In everyday use, La Alameda is the estate you enter from Vía Ricardo J. Alfaro by the main street opposite Pribanco, with La Alameda 1 on the Calle Orinoco side and La Alameda 2 beyond the Academia Hebrea along Calle Las Huacas. It borders Dos Mares, Las Mercedes and La Locería, and adverts sometimes use the name for streets in those barrios or file La Alameda houses under El Dorado. Check the urbanización on the title rather than on the listing.

• Can I run a business or an office from a house here?

  Be careful. The interior streets are zoned for residential use, and the residents’ association has a track record of reporting businesses that operate in houses, which has led inspectors to close premises. The wide, two-way main street may not carry the same rules as the narrow interior streets, so the answer depends on the exact lot. Ask the Municipio de Panamá for the zoning of that finca before you buy with a change of use in mind.

• Is water pressure a problem on the higher streets?

  It can be, especially in the upper part of La Alameda 1. Before you buy, ask whether the house has a reserve tank and a pump, how large the tank is, and how often the owners have needed it. Visit at a busy time of day and open a tap on the top floor.

• What should I check on a split-level house before signing?

  Houses on a slope here have often been extended over the years with terraces, semi-enclosed areas, guest rooms or a pool. Compare the built area on the Registro Público entry with what actually stands on the lot, ask for the permits behind each addition, and have an engineer look at retaining walls and the drainage between levels. Unregistered additions can hold up a mortgage or a later sale.

• Can a foreigner buy property in La Alameda?

  Yes. Foreign buyers have the same ownership rights as Panamanians, and the house or apartment is registered in the Registro Público in your own name or a company’s. Have a local lawyer search the finca for mortgages and liens, and for an apartment, ask the PH for a paz y salvo showing the cuota is paid up before closing.