The chain's New York entry was anything but conventional. The property, located at 153-95 Rockaway Blvd., was slightly more than 75% built when local hotel developer Sam Chen and Hersha Hospitality of Cumberland, PA sold it to Long Island based-Airport SAI Hospitality for $7.2 million. La Quinta became involved shortly thereafter when the new owners decided to franchise the four-story hotel. Deirdre Murphy of the Wilder Group, Great Neck, NY, brokered the sale.

Airport SAI is paying a $45,000 pre-opening fee to operate the limited-service hotel under the La Quinta flag as well as a royalty of 4% to 4.5% of gross room revenue, plus 2.5% of gross room revenue to support national marketing efforts and another 2% to support reservation operations.

Alan Tallis, executive vice president and chief development officer for La Quinta, tells GlobeSt.com "30% of the rooms available are being booked through our central reservation system, which is an extremely strong start." More than half those rooms are occupied he says. Room rates are approximately $140.