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los altos neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Costello Acres, Los Altos Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
A 1916 subdivision of country lots along Covington Road between El Monte and Campbell avenues, held at half an acre and up by a 1973 rezoning to R1-20. About 50 large-lot homes plus Bellevue Court.
Costello Acres by the numbers
costello acres by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Costello Acres: El Monte Ave, the north side of Covington Rd, Campbell Ave and Foothill Expwy (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in costello acres · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Costello Acres
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Costello Acres from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
Get alerts for new Los Altos listings: open Los Altos in our full search and tap Save Search.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Costello Acres: El Monte Ave, the north side of Covington Rd, Campbell Ave and Foothill Expwy (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
sold by the property nerds
Our sales in and near Costello Acres
Since 2012 we’ve handled 1 sale inside the Costello Acres outline that we can match to MLS records: 1 home we listed. The other photos are our closest listings outside it, measured from its edge.
All 31 of our Los Altos & Los Altos Hills sales, on a map Selling in Costello Acres? Book a strategy call
the story
How Costello Acres came to be
Costello Acres is one of the older subdivisions south of downtown Los Altos, and it is the reason one stretch of Covington Road still looks like the country. Francis J. Costello's Map of the Costello Acres was surveyed in August 1913 and recorded with the county in December 1916, laying out big lots between El Monte Avenue and Campbell Avenue. A resubdivision recorded in November 1923 names Covington Road, Campbell Avenue, Bellevue Avenue and Fremont Avenue.
Costello deed-restricted the lots to 40,000 square feet. When those restrictions expired in 1973, developers wanted to split them into quarter-acre R1-10 lots. Owners petitioned the City Council, which rezoned the area R1-20 (a 20,000-square-foot minimum) and set lot widths wider than the city standard so the lots could not be split.
The Costellos kept subdividing nearby for decades. The county's map books show the 1940 Woodstock tract along University Avenue and Milverton Road, west of El Monte, and the 1948 and 1955 Kalista Heights tracts on Quinnhill Avenue and Costello Drive, south of Foothill Expressway. The city's historic resources inventory lists a Costello house at 604 Milverton Road (1916) and a Costello barn on Deep Well Lane (1920). Costello Drive, despite the name, is not part of Costello Acres: it is in Kalista Heights, outside the city limits in unincorporated Santa Clara County. As for Costello Oaks, the name on our own old page, we found it in no record at all.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Physically, Costello Acres is a long, narrow wedge. Covington Road runs down the middle from El Monte Avenue to Campbell Avenue, lined on both sides by deep lots; on the south side a second row of lots faces Fremont Avenue, the frontage road beside Foothill Expressway. The only interior street is Bellevue Court, a 10-lot cul-de-sac off Covington Road zoned R1-10, with lots of about a quarter acre to 0.4 acre.
In the city's GIS parcel data the 51 R1-20 lots range from about 0.41 to 1.59 acres, with a median of about 0.88 acre, and 33 of them are 0.8 acre or larger. The houses span a century: 12 date from 1920 to 1939, 13 from 1946 to 1967 and 26 from 1979 on, including 18 built since 2000. Recorded living areas run from about 1,650 to 9,500 square feet. Expect a 1920s cottage set far back on an acre next door to a large new custom house.
Institutions take up much of the edges. Covington School and the Los Altos School District office, Rosita Park, other institutional sites near El Monte Avenue and Pinewood School's campus at 327 Fremont Avenue are zoned PCF (public and community facilities). That mix has been argued over before: the 2005 op-ed opposed a Pinewood expansion onto a residential lot on Covington Road. One house in the enclave, 235 Fremont Avenue (1920), is on the city's historic resources inventory.
streets in costello acres
- Covington Road
- Fremont Avenue
- Campbell Avenue
- Bellevue Court
- El Monte Avenue
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Costello Acres
- park
Rosita Park
On the north edge at 401 Rosita Avenue, next to Covington School. The city lists about 5 acres with three tennis courts, a baseball and soccer field with a concession stand, a playground, a walking track, picnic tables and restrooms.
- landmark
Covington School
Covington Elementary (205 Covington Road) and the Los Altos School District office (201) on the north edge. The district's history says Covington School was built in 1950 and became its first true junior high.
- landmark
Fremont Avenue and Foothill Expressway
The south row of lots faces Fremont Avenue, a frontage road beside Foothill Expressway, which was built on the old Southern Pacific line after the tracks were removed.
- shopping
Downtown Los Altos
Main and State streets are about a mile (straight line) to the northwest.
- shopping
Rancho Shopping Center
About 0.6 mile (straight line) southeast at Springer Road and Foothill Expressway, anchored by a supermarket.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
The Los Altos School District serves Costello Acres, and the district's school-boundary locator currently places these parcels in the Covington Elementary and Blach junior high attendance areas. Covington Elementary sits on the enclave's north edge at 205 Covington Road. High school is assigned by the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District by address. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with LASD and MVLA.
Los Altos School District guide · Mountain View-Los Altos high schools · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Caltrain: Mountain View station is about 2.4 miles and San Antonio station about 2.7 miles away (straight line); Los Altos has no station of its own.
- I-280: El Monte Avenue becomes El Monte Road south of Foothill Expressway and reaches I-280 at exit 16, about a mile southwest (straight line).
- Foothill Expressway runs along the southwest edge and is a popular cycling route.
- Downtown Los Altos is about a mile (straight line) to the northwest.
- Bus: VTA service runs on El Monte Avenue toward Foothill College and Mountain View; check VTA for current routes and stops.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Costello Acres: what we check
Buying here
- Lot splits: the R1-20 zoning and the wide lot-width rule were adopted to stop splits. Before you pay for subdivision or SB 9 potential, get a written answer from Los Altos Planning for the specific parcel.
- Institutional neighbors: Covington School, Pinewood School, Rosita Park and other institutional sites bring drop-off traffic and events. Drive Covington Road and Fremont Avenue at school start and pickup times.
- Older houses: a 1920s or 1930s house may need foundation, electrical and sewer lateral work. Check whether the house is on the city's historic resources inventory (235 Fremont Avenue is) before planning changes.
- The Fremont Avenue row backs onto Foothill Expressway; listen for road noise at different times of day.
- Big lots come with big trees. Get an arborist's report and check the city's tree-removal rules before you plan a rebuild footprint.
Selling here
- Document the lot: assessor acreage, a survey if you have one and the frontage. The R1-20 width rule matters to buyers planning a rebuild.
- Compare against other Costello Acres sales, not the quarter-acre R1-10 lots a block away.
- For a pre-1940 house, gather past permits and any historic-inventory status so buyers know what they can change.
- Explain the institutional neighbors and the 1973 rezoning up front; buyers will find both anyway.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Costello Acres questions, answered
Is it Costello Acres or Costello Oaks?
Costello Acres. That is the name on Francis J. Costello's 1916 subdivision map and the 1923 resubdivision. We found no record of a Costello Oaks.
Where are the boundaries?
El Monte Avenue on the west, Campbell Avenue on the east, Foothill Expressway on the southwest, and the backs of the lots on the north side of Covington Road. Covington School and Rosita Park line the north edge.
Why are the lots so big?
Costello deed-restricted the original lots to 40,000 square feet. When the restrictions expired in 1973, owners asked the city to rezone the area R1-20 with wider-than-standard lot widths so the lots could not be split.
Is Costello Drive part of Costello Acres?
No. Costello Drive is in the Kalista Heights tracts that the Costellos filed in 1948 and 1955, south of Foothill Expressway, and it is in unincorporated Santa Clara County rather than the City of Los Altos.
Which schools serve Costello Acres?
The Los Altos School District and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District. LASD's locator currently assigns these parcels to Covington Elementary and Blach; MVLA assigns high school by address. Boundaries change, so check the exact address.
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Listing data comes from the MLS through our IDX feeds and is shown as reported; it isn’t guaranteed. Repeat listings from overlapping feeds are removed, and land and mobile homes are left out.
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