At West Chelsea development, Tamarkin employs “anti-flash” marketing approach

UPDATED: July 8, 5:02 p.m. Cary Tamarkin has officially launched sales at 508 West 24th Street, a mixed-use development in West Chelsea, the developer told The Real Deal.

Contracts for four of the 15 units, which will be ready for move-ins by June 2014, were sent out to interested buyers last week. Millie Perry of Stribling Marketing Associates is heading up sales and marketing.

The units are a mix of two- and three-bedrooms, ranging from 2,000 to more than 3,300 square feet. The homes are priced from $3 million to more than $12 million. A buyer could convert some of the three-bedrooms into two-bedroom units, a spokesperson for the development said. Three of the three-bedroom condos are penthouses, Tamarkin said.

After the teaser website launched last week, “a few hundred” people signed up requesting more information, Tamarkin said.

The 10-story building, between 10th and 11th avenues, will feature ground-floor retail space and a rooftop terrace. The renderings show marble bathrooms, casement windows and a façade of Breton Brut concrete, as previously reported. The lobby is designed in a palette of cypress wood and natural cleft slate. A wraparound terrace connects two of the three penthouses, which each feature a wood-burning fireplace and 11- or 12-foot ceilings, a release said.

To market the property, Tamarkin is using a deliberately no-frills approach, consistent with the deliberately few amenities and overall stripped-down look of the project, designed by Tamarkin Co. Goldstein, Hill and West is the architect of record for the project. For example, the sales office occupies a section of his own office, at 56 West 22nd Street, fifth floor, by appointment.

“We are anti-flash,” Tamarkin said, adding that he still uses a flip phone.

There will be a fitness center, shared courtyard with a gas grill, a doorman and a full-time superintendent.

Prospective buyers hail from as close as across the street and the Upper East Side, and those from overseas in the market for a pied-a-terre, Tamarkin said. One who received a contract was a woman from Brazil who intends for her newborn to eventually attend Avenues: The World School, the tony international elementary school in Chelsea.

Multiple buyers at 456 West 19th Street, another Tamarkin development, hailed from Brazil as well, he said.

“They have confidence in their own aesthetic and don’t need to rely on the latest toy,” Tamarkin said. “They see it more as a long-term investment.”