GLENDALE, AZ-A Scottsdale condo converter, with an eye on the long-term, has picked up a 136-unit gated complex in a $10.5-million deal that's leveraged by golf-course views and an upscale location that he hopes will appeal to buyers once units are turned into condominiums.

"It's a perfect conversion opportunity," Neil Sherman with Sperry Van Ness in Phoenix tells GlobeSt.com about the Strayhorse at Arrowhead Ranch apartments at 20707 N. 67th Ave. It was purchased by Belleview at Arrowhead Ranch LLP in an off-market deal with Canadian owner Pebble Beach Apartments Inc.

The two-story, class A complex is set on 18 acres in Arrowhead Ranch, one of the premier communities in Glendale, and features a host of amenities tailored for easy conversion. The complex boasts on-site business and health facilities, pool and spa, freestanding garages and a mix of individually metered one-, two- and three-bedroom units with fireplaces. It also has a prime location on the championship golf course, Legend at Arrowhead Ranch, along with a small lagoon that abuts the site. "You have the perfect setting," Sherman says. "Condo converters see these amenities and they get excited. If we could find 10 of these [complexes], we could have them all in escrow within the next month."

But, the units aren't about to hit the condo market anytime soon. A provision in the loan documents prevents the buyer from converting the apartments for at least one or two years, says Sherman who handled the transaction for both parties along with Danny Lee, also with Sperry Van Ness.

"Most converters will only buy properties they can convert immediately and the longer it takes them, the longer the clocks are ticking and it gets very, very expensive." Sherman says. "But this a very savvy investor who realizes that even if he can't get at this for a few years, he is willing to bank it and then do the conversion."

The buyer already has experience in the Valley's condo conversion market. Since entering the market in the 1990s, he's converted at least eight apartment complexes.