Coco del Mar

About Coco del Mar:

Coco del Mar is the strip of San Francisco between Avenida Cincuentenario and the Bay of Panama, with the marine section of the Corredor Sur running offshore behind it. No sign marks where it starts. Cars come and go through Calle 50 and the side streets Andrés Mojica and Eduardo L. Maduro Lindo, all of which empty onto the Cincuentenario. Next door the name spills into Viña del Mar, which on the official map runs from Calle Las Amapolas to the bridge over the Quebrada Santa Elena, although many of its buildings are sold as Coco del Mar. The two barrios only connected inside when Calle 79 Este was opened in the 1980s between Calle Las Amapolas and Calle Esther Neira de Calvo.

The oldest houses date from the 1930s, a few years after San Francisco became a corregimiento in 1926. The Claretians opened the church of San Francisco de la Caleta, at the end of Coco del Mar, on 2 July 1933, and it is still the barrio’s best-known landmark. A 2013 street count found 45 buildings, 55 houses, the church, the Club Hebreo, a park and some 25 businesses packed into about ten hectares. Senior officials, executives and foreign diplomats have long lived here. Along the shore there is mangrove, with herons, pelicans, iguanas and crabs, and residents keep a close eye on anything proposed near it.

Inside the barrio there is little commerce; offices, restaurants and car showrooms sit along the Cincuentenario instead. For daily errands people use the 24-hour Rey nearby, the Super 99 in San Francisco and the Riba Smith at Multiplaza. The nearest hospitals are Centro Médico Paitilla and Hospital Punta Pacífica, and Vía Israel has a cluster of schools, among them the Instituto Alberto Einstein, the Louis Pasteur, the Instituto Justo Arosemena and the Instituto Técnico Don Bosco. The banking district around Calle 50 is a short drive west, and the Corredor Sur takes you to Costa del Este and Tocumen without crossing the city centre. Buses run on the Cincuentenario, but most residents drive.

The streets were laid out for houses, and the towers have tested them. Residents complained in 2013 that the sewers and roads were not built for so many people, and at a municipal planning workshop in April 2025 they again named traffic, worn-out infrastructure and parking as their main problems. That workshop split Coco del Mar into six zones by building height and proposed barring bars, nightclubs, banks, petrol stations, schools and institutional uses, with new shops subject to the municipal planning board. In April 2026 the national sanitation programme started a roughly three-million-dollar, eight-month job replacing the old sewer lines of Coco del Mar and Viña del Mar with larger pipes, closing streets in turn. Owners today range from families who have kept a house for generations to diplomats and executives on long leases and buyers of new compact units.

Apartments for sale in Coco del Mar:

Two generations of tower stand side by side. The older ones, many of them close to the water, hold large units of roughly 190 to 600 square metres, in buildings such as PH Santorini, Torre Panorama, Dal Mare, Ocean Sky and Wind Rose. The newer ones are compact: one- and two-bedroom units of 74 to 120 square metres with rooftop amenities. Per square metre, a big flat in an older tower usually costs well under a new compact one, which is why families shopping for space start with the older buildings. Every unit sits under propiedad horizontal: you buy the apartment plus a share of the common areas and pay a monthly cuota de mantenimiento. In an older tower, ask for the budget, the reserve fund and the minutes of recent assemblies, because lifts, pumps and façades eventually need money. Check whether the parking spaces and depósito have their own registered title or are only assigned, and read the PH reglamento on pets, rentals and short stays before you make an offer.

Apartments for rent in Coco del Mar:

Long-term lets dominate. Tenants are mostly executives, diplomats and families who want to be a few minutes from the Calle 50 offices, the schools on Vía Israel and Multiplaza, with the Corredor Sur on hand for Costa del Este. The compact units in the newer buildings suit singles and couples; the large older flats go to families who need the room. Some buildings allow furnished stays of a few weeks and others forbid them, so the reglamento decides, not the landlord. Ask how many spaces come with the flat and where visitors park, because street parking is tight and fills up when the Club Hebreo holds events.

Houses in Coco del Mar:

The houses range from large homes with gardens running down to the water to modest family houses on the inner streets, many with high ceilings and the solid construction of their era. Lots of roughly 650 to 1,000 square metres come up, often advertised as land with a house on it rather than as a home, because the buyer may be a developer. Zoning varies from lot to lot: some carry special medium-density residential codes that allow row houses, others allow multi-family buildings, and a few houses have been turned into offices. That matters in both directions. Read the zoning for the house you want and for the lots on either side, because the 2025 zoning proposal treats each of the six zones differently. On the waterfront, find out exactly where the private lot ends and the public shoreline and mangrove begin.

New developments in Coco del Mar:

Construction has not stopped. NEXT, by F&F Properties on Avenida Cincuentenario, offers two-bedroom units of 89 to 119 square metres with delivery planned for the end of 2026, and A19 Cincuentenario offers one-bedrooms from 74 square metres. Coco Place, a nine-storey building with two-bedroom units of about 80 square metres and a rooftop pool, sits on Calle Esther Neira de Calvo. Buying pre-construction in Coco del Mar means checking that the construction permit is in place, how your deposits are protected, what the contract says about late delivery and whether the parking space will be titled to you. Ask too how the project fits the zoning limits discussed for its zone in 2025.

Frequently asked questions:

• Where exactly does Coco del Mar begin and end?

  Think of it as the land between Avenida Cincuentenario and the bay, entered from Calle 50, Andrés Mojica and Eduardo L. Maduro Lindo. The confusion comes at the Viña del Mar end: officially that barrio runs from Calle Las Amapolas to the Quebrada Santa Elena bridge, but its buildings are usually marketed as Coco del Mar. The name on the title deed is what counts, so check it.

• Does Coco del Mar flood?

  The barrio sits low beside the water, and a stretch of Avenida Cincuentenario here has gone under in heavy downpours. The sewer network is old, which is why it is being replaced through 2026. Ask the building administrator whether the basement or car park has ever taken water, and on a waterfront lot look at how high the ground stands above the shoreline.

• Does parking come with the apartment?

  Usually, but check how many and on what terms, because it varies by building and by unit size. Some spaces are separate registered properties sold with the flat, others are only assigned by the PH, and that difference affects price and resale. Do not count on the street.

• Could the house next door become a tower?

  It depends on its zone. The 2025 municipal proposal divided Coco del Mar into six zones by building height, with different rules for each. Ask the municipality for the zoning of the neighbouring lots in writing before you buy a house or a low-floor unit with an open view.

• Can a foreigner buy here, and what should I check on the title?

  Yes, with the same rights as a Panamanian, and the property is registered in the Registro Público. With houses, many still belong to the families who built them or to their heirs, so confirm that every registered owner signs and that any estate is closed. With apartments, check that the unit, parking and depósito are each registered as you were told, and that the PH has no liens or unpaid special assessments.