Despite an outpouring of support for a rival local bidder, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s board on Wednesday awarded a 35-year redevelopment lease for the state’s 18 highway service plazas to Irish retailer Applegreen, with construction set to begin in six months.
The selection of Applegreen seemed all but complete when MassDOT staff endorsed its bid over two other finalists a week ago. There isn’t much time for new lease agreements before most of the plazas take effect in January.
Then one of the other bidders, Waltham-based fuel supplier Global Partners, fought back. In statements about why its bid was the better choice, Global focused on its local roots and argued it would deliver at least a half-billion dollars more in rent over the life of the contract.
Global’s employees and other supporters flooded the board with emails of support in recent days, underscoring its community involvement and its management across four generations of the Slifka family. On Wednesday, Global also packed the boardroom at MassDOT’s Park Plaza headquarters, with some supporters holding signs with messages such as “Keep It Local” and “Something Is Fishy at MassDOT.”
“Global isn’t just the highest bidder, we are the stronger, safer, proven operator,” Mark Romaine, chief operating officer at Global, told the board before the vote. “The people of Massachusetts should be outraged and, quite frankly, the administration should be ashamed.”
In a statement after the vote, Romaine said the “fight for Massachusetts is not over,” and that Global executives hope MassDOT weighs the risks and reconsiders before signing the Applegreen lease.
Applegreen, backed by private equity giant Blackstone, pledged to invest $750 million in capital improvements, including the complete replacement of buildings at nine plazas and major renovations of the others, over the life of the 35-year lease. MassDOT staff also expects average rent payments to the state of up to $28.4 million a year, based on a percentage of revenue — or nearly $1 billion over the life of the lease, although bid documents show the cumulative rent could be as low as $623 million.
In contrast, Global says its bid offered at least $1.5 billion in rent over the 35-year term, along with $650 million in capital improvements.
Scott Bosworth, chief development officer at MassDOT, told the board that revenue represented only 25 percent of the selection committee’s scoring criteria. The quality of the redevelopment plan represented another 25 percent, for example, and the transition plan from the current operators represented 15 percent.
Boston-based Suffolk Construction is Applegreen’s general contractor for the project. All construction is expected to be done by sometime in 2028, with no two consecutive plazas on the Pike shut down at the same time.
“They are ready to go, ready to hit the ground running,” Bosworth said.
Executives from Applegreen, Blackstone, and Suffolk attended the board meeting to make their case, in part by saying they will hire locally and purchase from local vendors.
Over the past decade, Applegreen has been rapidly growing its service plaza business in the US, an expansion that gained steam after Blackstone acquired a controlling stake in the business in 2021. Applegreen is wrapping up its redo of 27 service plazas in New York, with one to go, and Bosworth said its team there will move over to Massachusetts to help oversee the construction work here.
“We are ready to commence construction in January 2026 to deliver state-of-the-art, sustainable, world-class buildings for the commonwealth,” said Ronan Ryan, Applegreen’s chief investments officer.
The lease will involve redoing the 11 service plazas on the Mass. Turnpike, along with seven others. McDonald’s is the lead food vendor and Gulf is the lead fuel vendor along the turnpike, though Global is a subtenant of McDonald’s to operate the convenience stores on the Pike and is an agent of Gulf running the gas stations on its behalf. Global also is the state’s direct concessionaire for four highway rest areas: two in Bridgewater, one in Barnstable, and one in Beverly. Applegreen is slated to take over those leases in mid-2027, while the rest come up for renewal in six months.
MassDOT board member Lisa Iezzoni expressed reservations about picking Applegreen during the board’s public comments, and she abstained from the actual vote.
“When I got the outpouring of emails about the comments from the Global Partners advocates, I was overwhelmed by that,” Iezzoni said. “I had not realized some of the concerns that they raised.”
Global’s supporters pointed to well-publicized cost overruns at Applegreen’s New York project, while Bosworth said MassDOT would have strict controls in place to ensure Applegreen lives up to the terms of its contract in Massachusetts.
The Global crowd put an even greater emphasis on the responsiveness and economic impact that would come with picking an operator with strong local ties.
“This is not just about the brand of coffee that gets served on the Pike,” said Catie Kerns, Global’s chief strategy officer. “We are the best ambassadors for this state.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.