Long Island buyer for empty Ridge Hill condos

A Long Island property management company closed this month on its $26.5 million purchase of 90 unsold condominium units now marketed as rental apartments at The Monarch at Ridge Hill in Yonkers.

1 Ridge Hill L.L.C., an affiliate of Eagle Rock Management L.L.C. in Plainview, bought the residences and 26 storage units in the 162-unit Monarch from its financially struggling developer, Horizon at Ridge Hill L.L.C.

Monarch residents reportedly were notified in a letter of the sale by the new owners. The letter followed a recent notice to condo owners from Consolidated Edison Inc. that electricity to common areas of the glass-sheathed tower at the western edge of Westchester”™s Ridge Hill shopping center could be shut off if Horizon does not pay an overdue bill of about $39,400.

Eagle Rock Management on its website lists one-bedroom apartments at the Monarch renting at $2,000 to $2,600 per month and two-bedroom units renting at $2,500 to $4,200 monthly.

Principals at Eagle Rock did not respond to a request for comment.

The 13-story building opened in early 2012 as the first of four luxury residences planned in a 500-unit development approved by Yonkers city officials. But only about one-third of the luxury condos reportedly were sold by last February.

The developer of Ridge Hill, Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner Cos., last year sued Horizon at Ridge Hill in state Supreme Court, claiming the condo developer owed more than $1.6 million on its land purchase agreement and site development and electricity payments. A state judge in June ordered Horizon to pay $649,250 to Forest City and evicted the Monarch sales office from contested Ridge Hill office space owned by Forest City Ratner.

Horizon at Ridge Hill is led by David Marom, an Israeli and Long Island resident who in the 1980s founded the Horizon Group, a real estate development and investment company. Marom partnered at Ridge Hill and on other residential and commercial projects in the metropolitan area with two Israeli companies, Izaki Group Investment and Azorim Investment Development & Construction Ltd. A publicly traded company, Azorim reportedly sustained heavy financial losses in 2009 and 2010.

UPDATED: An earlier version of this article appeared online Aug. 19.