1200 Fifth Ave: 'Priced As You Might Imagine'

The winner of the most amusing marketing campaign of the week goes to 1200 Fifth Avenue, listed by the Corcoran Group.

Perhaps to counter the stigma of the building's “less than perfect 10029 zipcode” in East Harlem, Corcoran has unrolled a sort of “if you need to ask how much, you can’t afford it” advertising campaign.

See the fourth line of this recent ad in Sunday's Times (above): “Priced As You Might Imagine.”

Like 1200 Fifth Avenue’s Web site, which throws around Upper East Side buzz words like Fifth Avenue, the Central Park Conservancy, and Museum Mile with abandon, the ad avoids the “H” word at all costs.

Perhaps with good reason.

Since it opened for occupancy last spring, 16 units in the Emery Roth-designed building have sold and four others—including the 6 bedroom, 6,255-square-foot, $19.5 million triplex penthouse—are in contract, according to Street Easy. Units sold have fetched just shy of $1,600 per square foot on average -- a relative bargain for amenities like heated limestone floors, electric fireplaces, and individual wine cellars in each apartment.

But 10 of the 12 remaining listings have languished on the market for between 300 to 700 days.

Has the building's not-quite-gentrified location deterred potential buyers?