Do whatever you like. This isn't a design dilemma of any kind; it's an electrical question best answered by your electrician (and maybe by the condo managers).

As tatts says, it's up to you and your electrician. In retrofits, it's may be easier or cheaper to do one over the other. First off, make sure you really don't have GFCI. Older small units often had one GFCI (often in a non-obvious location) that feed all the bathrooms, etc....

If you don't have GFCIs, you probably don't also have AFCI as well. You may consider getting those.

Is not his current configuration grandfathered in? He mentions no work nor improvements.

Yes, I understand the safety aspect... I had a 1956 TR-3 that had no seat-belts as built... and not required therefore in the 1980s in CA. I added them anyway.

I prefer the GFCI right at the outlet that is being used so that if it trips, I don't have to walk down to the basement to flip the breaker.

But if the breaker box is in your condo (ie. readily accessible and not down a few flights of stairs) then maybe this isn't a big consideration.

The only thing I'd advise against is the situation that Ron mentioned which was common when GFCIs were new and expensive, where the GFCI is in some random place and downstream outlets are located in different rooms. Tracking that GFCI down can be a pain if you don't know it exists.