Address: Weir Drive, south of Tamarack Road, Woodbury

Type: Hospitality

Rooms: 122

Size: 48,657 square feet

Developer: WoodSpring Hotels

Architect: RSP Architects

Details: Wichita, Kan.-based WoodSpring Hotels has received city approvals to build a new WoodSpring Suites location in Woodbury.

The company, which specializes in the popular extended-stay format, currently has a single metro-area location in Fridley. That hotel will now be joined by a 122-room facility at Woodbury's fast-developing Tamarack Road interchange along the west side of Interstate 494.

The neighborhood has a newly opened Costco store, and in recent years has seen the opening of the new Life Time fitness center and the development of a Minnesota Eye Consultants building.

The plans approved by the Woodbury City Council in November show varying styles of guest rooms, each of which has a small kitchenette.

Separately, records indicate an entity related to the Kansas hotelier last month purchased a 3.8-acre vacant parcel from United Properties in Mendota Heights near the I-494 and Pilot Knob Road interchange. That transaction came just days before Maryland-based Choice Hotels International announced plans to acquire the WoodSpring hotel brands for approximately $231 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.

Don Jacobson