When an apartment complex is converted into a condominium complex, the transformation could be likened to dabbing a thick coat of frosting onto an undecorated cake. Throughout the Las Vegas Valley, former rentals have become permanent residences with a pronounced rapidity, thanks to the ongoing price increase for the area's single-family homes.
Advertisement
Zolt Szorenyi, real estate development manager at Performance Marketing Group, a company that works with developers after they purchase apartment properties, stated that when an apartment is reborn as a condo, the process involves "major" improvements.
"Apartment complexes are usually built at a lower feature level," Szorenyi said. "So when we come in and convert, we create a more luxurious feel, one that reflects homeownership. Most of the time, it involves a complete refurbishing of the home."
Indeed, the first step is to literally strip down the apartment to bare walls and bare floor. From there, the upgrade begins.
Szorenyi mentioned brand-new cabinets and counter tops in the kitchen as one element. Cherry-stained wood provides an improved aesthetic, and the same goes for granite counters, plus they are more durable.
The removal of "popcorn" off the ceiling is done if necessary, according to Szorenyi, and then comes the installation of new plumbing fixtures, new light fixtures, and the addition of a ceiling fan in most units. A fresh coat of paint inside and outside tops the list of standard modifications, as well as new carpeting.
Common areas also get the once-over, with the idea to make the setting practical, as well as picturesque.
"The reason we upgrade the landscaping is to make it water friendly," said Tawnya Rosenthal, Performance Marketing's director of marketing and advertising. "We're actually going into a lot of these properties to remove grass and put in trees that are desert friendly. They actually require less water."
Szorenyi said a gate is added onto the complex's entrance, if it doesn't already have one. And right inside the entrance, the sales center at the former apartment complex becomes a full-fledged clubhouse, with every square foot devoted to that purpose.
The clubhouse is nearly always situated next to the pool and spa, each of which may be extended. New decking may also be installed. In combination with the clubhouse, the developers aim for a "resort" feel.
"We are highly upgrading the clubhouse," Szorenyi said. "We don't increase the size. We make the best possible use of the square footage, and we turn the former leasing office into a usable clubhouse.
"We put a lot of focus on the clubhouse and the community pool area, because when our clients walk into our sales center, which is in the clubhouse, that's pretty much where they get introduced to the extensions of their living room, where they have a lot of activities."
However, the same renovations may not apply to every apartment complex, as Szorenyi said each complex is unique.
Coronado Palms can be placed in the "lesser amount of upgrades necessary" category, as it is one of the newer complexes with which Performance Marketing is involved. Currently under construction, the development will now contain all condominium amenities built-in, since the apartments were built to a condo-spec level, according to Rosenthal, while older properties such as Bella Vita and Symphony may require more work.
Further, a legality comes into play when converting apartments to condominiums: the creation of a condo map. The construction of Coronado Palms began with a recorded condo map. Many older apartment complexes never did.
"You can build an apartment complex without a map," Szorenyi said. "But as soon as you want to sell it as condominiums, you have to hire an engineering company that will create and submit a record with the county for all individual parcel numbers for each condominium. Some of the apartment complexes have been built with a condo map, and it makes the job easy.
"In some cases the apartment complex does not have the recorded map, and we have to get a map submitted and recorded. It then needs to be accepted by the county."
Rosenthal said some complexes cannot be converted if they do not possess the proper qualities of location, surroundings and accessibility. Zoning may also prevent the process from taking place.
Nonetheless, Szorenyi said the number of apartment conversions in the area is "increasing at a rapid rate," because valley residents are placing a higher demand on affordable housing.
Symphony, Ivy Lane and Latigo are apartments-turned-condo developments that are 90 percent sold out, according to Rosenthal, while Alexis Heights and Coronado Palms have only recently opened. She said Performance Marketing is involved with six more complexes scheduled to open within the next two to six months.
Rosenthal said the conversion process began in Las Vegas in 2000. Now, it has skyrocketed.
"If you shop for homes now, the average worker on the Strip is being outpriced," she said. "We're creating a place for them that they can afford to buy.
"The majority of the complexes in the valley won't be converted, but as fast as we're selling condominiums, developers are converting complexes for sales."
