La Quinta Inns & Suites added a high-profile location to its growing portfolio with the opening of a corporate-owned property in the heart of Chicago’s financial district inside the Loop. The 241-room hotel was created from an existing structure—the Jewish Federation Building built in 1958—and two newly constructed wings and immediately becomes a billboard location for the fast-growing company.

With more than 700 locations, La Quinta continues to close in on its goal of 1,000 properties. CEO Wayne Goldberg, who will be in Chicago Wednesday to check out the new hotel, expects more than 80 openings this year. The Chicago hotel is the second new-build city-center project, the first coming in San Antonio a couple years ago. The company has a franchised location expected to break ground in downtown Houston later this year and Chief Development Officer Raj Trivedi hopes for more. “If franchisees want to do something, we’ll give them first chance,” he says. “If we as a company see something very attractive is available and can have broader impact on the brand, we’ll absolutely consider that.

“I think that’s the beauty of it for a franchisee, being part of a company with skin in the game, a company that will take initiative,” Trivedi adds. “We’re investing such a high-dollar amount (roughly $220,000 per room in Chicago); it displays our commitment to the brand in a very high-visibility location. It breaks barriers for the brand, we’re not just suburban, highway, roadside or airport (locations). We’re establishing ourselves in metropolitan markets.”

The new hotel features a green roof as part of the city’s program to conserve energy by lowering air temperature and reducing urban heat island effect. Trivedi says even more attention was paid to green features, including a more energy-efficient distribution network that employs district cooling, an innovative system eliminating the need for equipment such as boilers and a central plant on property. The hotel also has three meeting rooms—slightly more space than is typical at a La Quinta—and four guestroom types, a business center, an indoor pool with spa and fitness center. Trivedi says it will also be the brand’s first hotel with significant retail space (3,800 square feet on the first floor).