ORLANDO-Locally based Liberty Lodging LLC is planning to build more than 100 Value Place extended stay properties with the closing of a $360-million debt financing facility with Goldman Sachs.

Liberty Lodging, a subsidiary of Value Place hotel franchisee Liberty Investment Properties, will build properties in Boston; Central Florida; Denver; Indianapolis; Montgomery, AL.; Providence, RI; Salt Lake City and Springfield, MA. Liberty has launched a recruiting and site acquisition program, and plans to develop 30 properties per year over the next three to four years.

Value Place senior vice president of brand strategy Charles Bruce says the properties are aimed at serving small or independent business owners seeking lower cost alternatives in hotels. "There are 10 million independent business owners and 90% of the nation's work force work for companies with less than 20 people," Bruce says. "They don't want to pay for amenities they don't use. With our business model, our properties do not have these amenities."

Based in Wichita, KS, Value Place currently has signed agreements with franchisees to build nearly 560 extended stay properties nationwide. More than 40 properties are currently open in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

In addition to the 100 properties Liberty will build, there will be 40 more properties under construction within the next 90 days. Liberty plans to open its first Value Place in Orlando in early 2007. "This growth brings us a step closer to building Value Place as a national brand," says Value Place Franchise Services president Gina-Lynne Scharoun.