Pomona : Land Sale for Center OKd

The City Council has approved the land sale agreement for the proposed $96-million Inland Pacific World Trade Center in downtown Pomona.

By a 3-1 vote, the council Monday sold the city’s share of the 4.5-acre site across from City Hall for $1 million to Kajima International Inc.

Kajima, which has contracted to build the project for the developer, Urban Equities Ltd., will not transfer the deed to Urban Equities until the city has given final approval on all remaining plans, city officials said.

In an agreement outlined by Community Development Director Sanford A. Sorensen, the city will reinvest the $1 million in a 260-room hotel proposed for the complex. In exchange, the city will receive a 12% equity interest in the hotel and a 9% return on the $1-million investment.

As a “fail-safe mechanism,” Sorensen said, Kajima or Urban Equities would be required to build an alternate $10-million project on the land within five years if the World Trade Center is not constructed.

At the end of five years, if the $10-million project is not built, Kajima or Urban Equities would have to return both the land and the city’s $1-million investment, he said.