NEW YORK CITY-DiamondRock Hospitality Co. said Monday that it has acquired the 169-room Hilton Garden Inn Chelsea New York City from a joint venture of Inland America and Winston Hotels in an all-cash deal marking its third acquisition here. The $68.4-million purchase price represents a 12.9 multiple of 2010 EBITDA and a 7% capitalization rate on forecasted NOI for the year, says the Bethesda, MD-based DiamondRock.

In a release, DiamondRock CEO Mark Brugger says the three-year-old property in Manhattan’s Chelsea District was especially attractive to his company “because of its ability to charge essentially full-service room rates with a more profitable limited service cost structure as a result of its strong Hilton Garden Inn branding, access to Hilton Worldwide’s powerful reservations system and traveler loyalty generated from the Hilton guest rewards program.”

Additionally, the Hilton Garden Inn Chelsea at 121 W. 28th St. has outperformed its competitive set, with a RevPAR penetration of more than 100% for the first seven months of this year, says DiamondRock. More generally, DiamondRock says the New York City hotel market has remained strong, with market occupancy of close to 80% and average daily rate of over $200 through July of ’10.