Pomona : Trade Center Investor

H. Thomas Felvey, embattled promoter of the Inland Pacific World Trade Center project, has found a Taiwanese investor who may secure financing for the proposed $96-million office, hotel and retail center, Mayor Donna Smith announced this week.

Speaking at the end of Monday night’s council meeting, Smith said she had met last Friday with Felvey and a Taiwanese businessman, Harvard Fang. Smith said Fang is in Taiwan this week trying to secure partners for the venture.

Smith said Fang’s firm, the name of which she could not recall, is very interested in the idea of the World Trade Center, which is intended to tie Pomona into “Pacific Rim” trade among the United States, Asia and Latin America.

“They really feel this would be one of the most prestigious projects,” Smith said at Monday’s meeting.

Under a $100-million bond agreement passed by the City Council last year, Felvey has until May 1 to secure financing for the bonds, or he will lose the exclusive right to develop the property. Felvey has been looking for a partner since November, when the Birtcher development firm pulled out of the project.