La Quinta breaks ground at Copper Sky (GALLERY)

The franchise owner of a planned La Quinta Inn, accompanied by family, partners and city officials, broke ground at Copper Sky Regional Park on Friday morning. Andy Bhakta also turned earth for a hotel in Holbrook this year.

“Last year, we came to the city, it was the weekend. We met Rick [Horst], the city manager. He asked us, first question, how long it takes to build a hotel,” investor Ravikumar Balenalli said during the groundbreaking. “We said, if everything works out, one year. That was last September.”

“We have this beautiful park, and it’s one of the nicest in the state, and yet we don’t have the ability for folks to come and have tournaments here and stay here,” Mayor Christian Price said. “When you start to look at the employers and you start to look at the domino effect that happens, it’s a really big deal.”

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