Living in Casa Del Rio

Bloomington sits on the south side of the Virgin River, in the southwestern corner of St. George. It was its own community until the city annexed it (took it in as part of the city) in 1982. It still feels a little apart, and that is the whole appeal. Casa Del Rio is a small group of custom homes tucked into that corner, off the Rio Vista Drive cul-de-sacs. Mornings are quiet, and the through traffic goes somewhere else.

Midday errands start close by. The Walmart Supercenter at 2610 S Pioneer Road, by the Brigham Road exit, is about three minutes from the neighborhood. You reach the rest of St. George over the river and up toward Bluff Street and St. George Boulevard, roughly ten minutes out. Bloomington asks for a few extra minutes of driving. In return, the neighborhood does not sit on a main road.

Evening is the payoff. The river along the north edge of Bloomington cools faster than the pavement up in town. The Virgin River South Trail at Bloomington Park is close enough to be a routine, not a trip. Winter is still a St. George winter, mild enough that a light jacket gets you through most evenings on the trail.

Casa Del Rio is a subdivision of custom homes built in the 1990s. The homes show their era, with plenty of square footage and floor plans of their own. Several builders worked here, so no two houses look the same from the street. County records show most homes here built from 1988 to 1997, at about 2,600 square feet on lots of about 0.4 acre. That is a large house on a large lot for St. George, and the street was platted (mapped into lots) around homes like it.

The setting is what sets these lots apart from the tighter streets elsewhere in St. George. The homes are not built right up to the lot line. Each lot gives you room from the next house. The homes at the ends of the Rio Vista cul-de-sacs can back to open space, with no neighbors behind. The street looks established, with mature landscaping and larger setbacks (the distance a home sits back from the lot line). Dead-end streets instead of through streets keep it quiet, too.

In a neighborhood this small and this settled, homes rarely come up for sale, and the next one may not appear for a while. Prices sit in the upper range for Bloomington because of the home sizes and the setting. Ask me for current prices.

The main place to get outside on this side of Bloomington is the Virgin River South Trail. This paved path follows the river from its trailhead at Bloomington Park on Man O' War Road. The trail is flat and stroller-friendly, a walking and biking route through cottonwood and tamarisk trees, not desert slickrock (smooth sandstone). It links north to the rest of the St. George river trail system. From the Rio Vista Drive cul-de-sacs the trailhead is about a three-minute drive, and if your lot sits near the river, you can walk.

Bloomington Park is one of St. George's original community parks, 26.5 acres with ball fields, pickleball and basketball courts, and pavilions. For desert hiking, Snow Canyon State Park is the bigger draw, roughly twenty minutes northwest across town. The day-trip list is on the St. George guide.

Casa Del Rio is served by the Washington County School District. Homes in this part of Bloomington attend Bloomington Elementary on Man O' War Road for grades K through 5. Students then move up to Dixie Intermediate for grades 6 and 7. After that comes Dixie Middle for grades 8 and 9, then Dixie High for grades 10 through 12. Boundaries can shift as the district adjusts. For any specific home, check the current assignment with the district. For independent school information, GreatSchools and Niche both publish data you can evaluate for yourself.

Bloomington is large, and most of it was laid out as subdivisions of homes built from a few repeating floor plans. Casa Del Rio is different: a small group of custom homes off the Rio Vista Drive cul-de-sacs. They went up in the 1990s on lots of about a third of an acre to almost an acre. The dead-end streets are the point. With no through traffic, the neighborhood stays quiet in a way the grid streets nearby do not.

Three things set it apart that you rarely get together in one part of Bloomington. First, every home is custom built, not one of a few repeated plans. Second, the lots run from a third of an acre to almost an acre, not the tighter lots you see elsewhere. Third, it sits on the river side, where the end lots can back to open space with no rear neighbors. That is what the few homes that come up for sale are judged on: the lot and the layout, not a neighborhood average of recent sales.