Highway rest stop plaza controversy in Massachusetts has local company crying foul

CBS News

04-07-2025

Company calls for investigation after losing bid to take over Massachusetts highway service plazas
Company calls for investigation after losing bid to take over Massachusetts highway service plazas
Company calls for investigation after losing bid to take over Massachusetts highway service plazas
A local company that lost its bid to take over 18 highway service plazas in Massachusetts says the fight is not over.
Last month, MassDOT awarded a 35-year contract to Applegreen, a company founded in Ireland that plans to knock down and rebuild nine of the rest stops while significantly upgrading nine more. All MassDOT board members, except for one who abstained, voted in favor of Applegreen.
But Waltham-based Global Partners, a fuel supplier, is appealing to lawmakers and the attorney general to put the brakes on the agreement that would give Applegreen control of the plazas on Jan. 1. Global Partners contends that its bid was $1 billion higher than Applegreen's.
"It is not a done deal," Global Partners CEO Eric Slifka told WBZ-TV. "This is a travesty."
"We think this is an injustice"
Slifka said he was surprised that the state didn't go with a local company. He also said Global Partners made a much bigger rent commitment than Applegreen in its bid.
"We know how to do this and basically we think that this is an injustice to the taxpayers of Massachusetts," he said. "We think this should be investigated, we think it should be looked into."
MassDOT says Applegreen's bid was larger by $125 million - not $1 billion, and there were other reasons they chose Global Partners' competitor. Slifka disagrees and is calling for more transparency.
"We stepped up to the plate, made a very firm commitment," he said. "The company that they ended up going with did not have a firm commitment. There's risk there for the state, and that's a problem."
Applegreen "ready to hit the ground running"
On the other side is Applegreen CEO Bob Etchingham. He told WBZ-TV that Applegreen's business is almost exclusively focused on travel plazas, operating 113 in the northeast U.S.
"We're very much the most experienced and the best qualified to operate the new travel plazas and we're looking forward to doing that," Etchingham said. "In three years time we'll be able to offer you something that's vastly superior to what you experience at the moment."
Applegreen is investing $750 million into rebuilding the service plazas, and says its work will be done by 2028. They are partnering with Boston-based Suffolk Construction.
"We're ready to hit the ground running on the first of January," Etchingham said.
Many of the plazas being razed and renovated are on the Mass Pike. Applegreen's plans call for updated "coastal," "metro" or "western" exterior designs depending on the location of the plaza. They also plan to add more parking spots, children's play areas and say they'll make the bathrooms more modern and inviting.
Etchingham disputes the $1 billion number put forward by Applegreen.
"Those figures were unreliable," he said.
MassDOT is standing behind its decision to go with Applegreen, saying that they'll have the plazas ready sooner and that it will be a better deal in the long-run.
"MassDOT was pleased to receive strong interest in this opportunity from several highly qualified companies, and we are grateful to everyone who submitted a bid," Transportation Sec. Monica Tibbits-Nutt said in a statement. "After a thorough process, the MassDOT board authorized us to award the contract to Applegreen, which has the best experience, will start faster and finish faster, and which had the only plan to transform all 18 plazas to better serve customers for the next 35 years."