Pomona to Help Build Fairgrounds Hotel

The City Council on Tuesday night agreed to spend $2.5 million in redevelopment money to help the Los Angeles County Fair Assn. and a developer build an eight-story, $21-million Sheraton All Suites Hotel at the fairgrounds.

Gordon H. Marks, representing the developer, THM Properties of Scottsdale, Ariz., said the 252-room hotel could be completed in time for the September, 1991, Los Angeles County Fair.

The City Council approved the agreement with some reluctance. Councilman Tomas Ursua said that the region has a surplus of hotel rooms and that the project offers the city no more than a reasonable return on its investment.

But Mayor Donna Smith was more enthusiastic, hailing the hotel as a major advance for Pomona.

Marks said the hotel should succeed because of the business that will be generated from the county fair and from trade shows and other events at the fairgrounds.

The hotel will be built at McKinley and White avenues. The building will include 16,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, a restaurant, lounge, and gift shop. Rooms will rent for $77 a night, Marks said.

The fair association will issue $17 million in bonds to help finance the hotel.

Douglas Dunlap, deputy executive director of the city Redevelopment Agency, said the agency’s $2.5-million contribution to the project could be repaid in five to 10 years. The agency will receive $100,000 a year in property tax revenue, he said, and the city will gain $1 million to $1.6 million from its bed tax over five years.

The hotel operators have agreed to give preference to Pomona residents when they hire employees. About 300 jobs will be created.