Dive Brief:
- Applegreen plans to open its first travel plaza in Colorado in 2026, a company spokesperson confirmed to C-Store Dive.
- The Dublin-based retailer is investing $70 million to build four travel plazas in the Denver area through a partnership with the E-470 Public Highway Authority. The first location is set to open in Q4 2026 with the other three following “shortly afterwards,” Applegreen CEO Joe Barrett said in an announcement.
- This continues a busy stretch of growth for Applegreen, which has taken on several initiatives since revealing plans to spend over $1 billion developing its travel center business in the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland through 2029.
Dive Insight:
All four travel plazas will operate along Colorado’s E-470 highway. Two will be located in Commerce City, with an additional site in Parker — which will begin construction in the coming weeks — and another in Aurora, according to the announcement.
Each location will feature an Applegreen convenience store, three branded food and beverage outlets, fueling infrastructure and Applegreen Electric EV chargers, as well as seating areas and restrooms. Applegreen will handle construction and maintenance and will operate the sites under a 50-year agreement with the E-470 Public Highway Authority.
Applegreen’s arrival in Colorado will mark the company’s 13th state of operation and westernmost locations in the U.S. It will also mark the end to a project that took over five years of coordination and planning, according to the announcement.
“Applegreen and Shames Construction, our local construction partner, are thrilled to have this opportunity to deliver a new world-class roadside hospitality experience for the travelling public in the Denver area,” Barrett said in the announcement.
Applegreen, which operates about 113 travel plazas across the U.S., has spent the past few years remodeling its 27 travel centers in New Jersey and New York, as well as adding electric vehicle charging stations across its network.
In June, the company received approval to rebuild and operate 18 travel plazas along major Massachusetts roads, including the state’s main Turnpike, as part of the 35-year lease agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Regional c-store competitor Global Partners has since expressed its frustration with MassDOT’s decision to award the project to Applegreen, claiming that its own pitch was more cost-effective and logical since Global Partners is a local entity. Global Partners recently filed an ethics complaint with the state and requested an investigation into MassDOT’s decision.
