Built in 1970, the 152 guest room Wayne Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge complex originally featured an A-frame Gate Lodge and an A-frame Restaurant. The property was one of several in the Garden State which had been owned by Prime Motor Inns (Prime had been a Howard Johnson franchisee prior to its $236 million purchase of the brand from Marriott in 1985--note that Prime sold the Howard Johnson brand and rights to Ramanda franchising in 1990 for $170 million to the Blackstone Group which created HFS which became Cendant, and is now called Wyndham International!).

Following Prime's 1990 bankruptcy and reorganization, the Wayne facility continued as a Howard Johnson until 2000. It was then converted into Prime's Wellesley Inn brand. In 2004 Prime agreed to be purchased for $790 million by the Blackstone Group which liquidated Prime's assets and eliminated its brands. Like the Wayne site, most Wellesleys were converted into La Quintas (Blackstone acquired La Quinta in 2005 for $3.4 billion).