Pomona : Extension Granted for Trade Center

Departing from established procedure, the City Council voted Monday to give Urbanetics Inc. a six-month extension on its exclusive right to develop a vacant parcel of city-owned land. The Los Angeles firm is negotiating with the city over plans for a $90-million World Trade Center that would include restaurants, theaters and a hotel.

Since December, the council has been granting the firm 90- and 60-day extensions of the exclusive agreement as negotiations continued. But council members approved the six-month extension after Community Development Director Sanford Sorensen estimated that negotiations with the firm could take six months or more to complete. The developer would like the city to pay for a $13-million parking garage, provide $1.5 million for a promotional campaign and obtain a $5.2-million loan from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.