Zona 4

About Zona 4:

Zona 4 is small and hemmed in on every side. Zona 1 lies to the north and north-west, Zona 5 along the east, Zona 10 at the south-eastern corner, Zona 9 to the south and Zona 8 to the west, towards the Calzada Atanasio Tzul, which starts at Ruta 5. Two straight lines cross the diagonal grid from north to south: the 7a avenida, the original central axis of the cantón, and the 6a avenida. Transmetro Línea 13 runs along them with three stops inside the zone: 4 Grados Sur at 6a avenida and 24 calle, Exposición at 6a avenida and Ruta 6, and Plaza de la República at 7a avenida and Ruta 4. Plenty of drivers treat the one-way signs on the rutas and vías as optional, so the zone is easier on foot, by bus or on the 4 Grados Norte cycle lane than behind the wheel.

The cantón started with 40 houses on blocks of four lots, each lot facing a cardinal point. The engineer Claudio Urrutia drew it under President José María Reina Barrios, and a monument to the arrival of the railway, known as El Ángel, stood where Plaza de la República is now until the earthquakes of 1917 and 1918 brought it down. On Ruta 6, the brick-red Iglesia Yurrita, built between 1928 and 1941 by the master builders Regino and Félix Velásquez for the Spanish businessman Felipe Yurrita, still stands out among the newer blocks with its 25-metre neo-Gothic tower. At 24 calle and 6a avenida, the Gran Centro Comercial Zona 4 opened in 1971 with more than 44,000 square metres and the first escalators in the country, and later added two office towers.

Two very different economies share the zone. On its south-western side, La Terminal has been trading for close to sixty years: trucks of fruit, vegetables and seafood unload before dawn, and some 40,000 traders, large and small, supply households and other markets across the country. In the middle, the municipality and Fundación Crecer opened 4 Grados Norte in 2002 as a pedestrian district, and from 2010 public and private investment added offices, classrooms and housing to its streets of restaurants, bars and shuco stands. Campus TEC, a Grupo Apolo complex of some 50,000 square metres around Vía 4 and Ruta 2, fills its buildings with technology firms, startups and events, and the inner streets carry a 30 km/h limit that gives them over to people on foot.

Most newcomers rent. The tenants are mainly young professionals and people who work at Campus TEC, in the Centro Cívico or in offices in Zonas 1, 9 and 10, and who want to walk or ride the Transmetro to work. Buyers split between investors picking up one-bedroom units to let furnished and first-time owners paying off a flat in monthly instalments while the tower goes up. The flats are smaller than the family floors of Zonas 10, 14 or 15, and buyers come in at a lower price point.

Apartments in Zona 4:

Almost everything residential built here in the last decade is vertical. Inara Cuatro Norte, on Vía 6, has two 21-storey towers over seven basement levels of parking, with one- to three-bedroom units from 31 to 71 square metres and shared spaces that include coworking, an amphitheatre, a gym and a wood-fired oven. Vivo Zona 4, by Modus Vivendi, links three towers of flats, offices and shops, with cars entering from Vía 1, a pedestrian passage through to 7a avenida near INGUAT and the first automated car park in a Guatemalan apartment building. Silk, Modra, Séptimo, QUO, Cuatro 36 and Cuatro Venezia round out the main buildings with apartments for sale in Zona 4, from single-room lofts to two-bedroom units with balconies. In a tower still under construction, pin down the delivery date and what the monthly maintenance fee covers before you sign.

Rentals in Zona 4:

The standard let here is a furnished one-bedroom of 35 to 50 square metres, in Inara, Modra, Cuatro 36 or one of the smaller buildings around 4 Grados Norte. Maintenance is often included in the rent, but some landlords quote in dollars and others add IVA on top, so compare like with like. Two-bedroom flats of 65 to 95 square metres suit couples and sharers. If you want apartments for rent in Zona 4 for a year rather than a few weeks, say so at the first call, because some units were bought to be let as short stays.

Houses in Zona 4:

Single-family houses are the exception. The few that come up sit on the older rutas and vías, often two storeys on a narrow lot; one recent example had about 254 square metres built on roughly 363 square varas with a 15-metre frontage. Many end up as offices or shops rather than homes. If you are after houses for sale in Zona 4 to live in, picture the block as it will be, not as it is: the lot next door may be the next tower.

Land and Lots in Zona 4:

Vacant land is scarce and priced for developers. The lots that reach the market, such as frontage on 6a avenida, are sold in dollars plus taxes and pitched as tower sites rather than plots for one house. The value depends on how much the municipal land-use plan lets you build along the Transmetro corridor and inside 4 Grados Norte, so treat land for sale in Zona 4 as a question for an architect before it becomes one for a lawyer.

Offices and Commercial Space in Zona 4:

Offices and shops are as much a part of the zone as flats. Campus TEC lets offices and ground-floor units, some handed over in obra gris with no floors, windows or bathroom, at a rent per square metre plus a separate maintenance charge. Séptimo has small private offices of around 35 square metres, the Gran Centro Comercial Zona 4 still houses more than a hundred businesses alongside its two office towers, and Plaza 4 adds shops and a food court. Budget the fit-out before you compare rents: a shell unit that looks cheap per square metre needs flooring, glazing and plumbing before it can open.

FAQ:

• How do Zona 4 addresses work?

  Rutas, numbered 1 to 6, run one way across the grid and vías, numbered 1 to 9, run the other, so two addresses that look close can be on streets at right angles. Drop a pin on the exact building before a viewing. If you drive, allow extra time and watch for cars coming the wrong way down one-way stretches.

• What does living near La Terminal mean?

  The market starts before dawn, when the trucks unload, and the streets around it carry heavy traffic and loading for most of the day. It has also had serious fires, including one in 2014 that destroyed more than 600 stalls. If a flat or warehouse is close by, visit at six in the morning as well as at midday, and ask your insurer how they rate the address.

• Is 4 Grados Norte noisy at night?

  It is a restaurant and bar district, so weekend nights are busy on the pedestrian streets. Go back on a Friday night before you sign, and ask which side of the building the bedrooms face.

• Can you live in Zona 4 without a car?

  More easily than in most of the city. Línea 13 stops at 4 Grados Sur, Exposición and Plaza de la República on its way between the Centro Cívico and Zonas 9 and 13, the historic centre is a walk away, and the cycle lane reaches Zona 5 and Zona 9.

• What should I check on an older property in the old cantón?

  The diagonal grid cut many lots at odd angles, and plenty of houses have since been extended, split or turned into shops, so the boundaries and built area on paper may not match what is standing. Get the finca number and check it at the property registry for liens and the registered area, then confirm with the municipality that the current use is licensed and the IUSI is up to date.