Nitin Jariwala, president of Dallas-based JAI Investments, has inked the first master development deal--and largest piece of new construction--in La Quinta Corp.'s franchise history, says Alan Tallis, the Irving-based hotelier's president of franchising, executive vice president and chief development officer. Jariwala will spend the next three years rolling out La Quinta Inns & Suites in Gainesville, DeSoto/Lancaster, Lake Worth, Hillsboro, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Burleson and Lindale. The first project for the development agreement pact will break ground in six months.

Michael Bristol with Trammell Crow Co. is tracking down two-acre tracts, on average, for the investor. He tells GlobeSt.com that two sites are under contract and several more "under consideration." But, the key to the development strategy will be to close on the land sales "as close as we can to pulling the building permits," he explains. Jariwala's new portfolio will contain hotels with 70 to 90 rooms.

Rajiv Trivedi, La Quinta's senior franchise development officer, says talks began three months ago with Jariwala, who has an "Inns & Suites" up and running in Rockwall and a La Quinta Inn in Terrell. The franchisee, in unrelated agreements, is under construction with a hotel in Mansfield, also an "Inns & Suites" flag, and an "Inns" brand planned for the North Dallas intersection of Coit Road and LBJ Freeway.

"It's the first time we've sold off a piece of Dallas," Tallis says. "He's absolutely the right one. He's proven to us he's a very experienced, capable operator who puts the needs of the guests foremost, which is the core of this company's culture."

Jariwala, a 15-year hotel owner, has accrued a multi-brand portfolio in Dallas/Fort Worth. "This brand gave me immediate success," he says, citing a shorter than usual ramp-up period when Rockwall and Terrell came on line.

Tallis says other master development agreements are under negotiation, but he's not tipping his hand as to the locale. At the end of the second quarter, the hotelier had 132 franchised La Quintas, of which 64 are "Inns & Suites," and 95 Baymont Inns & Suites-flagged franchises.