2013 Pivotal Year for Rest Stop Re-openings: Reports of New Burger King’s Untrue

In 2012, travelers saw six service plazas statewide reopen allowing five additional plazas to close for extensive renovations. 

Seven service plazas are slated to reopen in 2013 and at least three other plazas will close for renovations. 

The redevelopment process is staggered so no two contiguous facilities are ever closed. 

All of the reopened facilities offer new restrooms, food, fuel, and retail for those looking to take a pit stop alongside Route 15, I-95, and I-395. 

Route 15 Plazas

The most recent reopening’s occurred at two Fairfield service plazas on Route 15.

The northbound plaza reopened November 9 with Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, and Alltown convenience store and gas station.

The 2,240-square-foot southbound facility reopened December 21 with only a Dunkin’ Donuts and Alltown “due to size constraints of the building, (i.e.: a road behind the building prevented us from adding an addition to the back of the building),” said Mike Modine, Director of Operations for Project Service, LLC, which oversees Connecticut Service Plazas. 

Due to scarce fuel supplies in November as a result of Hurricane Sandy, he said that renovations to the Greenwich Route 15 plazas were delayed a month so that motorists could have an opportunity to get fuel.

The 2,400-square-foot plazas subsequently closed at the end of last year and are expected to reopen this fall with 500-800 square foot additions. 

At press time, information on the construction schedule of the New Canaan and Orange plazas was not available. 

I-95 Plazas 

The I-95 Milford service plazas reopened this spring allowing work to begin in Darien and Branford. 

The Darien plazas, being modeled after Milford’s larger southbound facility, will reopen in spring 2013 in expanded 24,000-square-foot buildings. 

This will allow renovations to start at the I-95 Fairfield plazas which will be similar to Milford’s smaller northbound plaza. 

“The (Branford plazas) projects are in progress but slightly behind schedule, the northbound plaza should open midsummer and the southbound plaza should open by the end of the year,” Modine said, adding that the northbound plaza will feature McDonald’s, Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, Alltown Convenience Store, and Mobil gasoline. 

The facility is also being modeled after the Milford northbound plaza. 

The completion of renovations at the Branford plazas will allow construction to start in Madison. 

“McDonald’s will not be in Branford southbound or Madison northbound plazas. The buildings are not big enough for all four core tenants. These two sites will have Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts and Alltown,” he explained, adding that Burger King will not open at these two sites despite previous reports.  

Those reports claimed the Branford southbound plaza would expand from 6,000 square feet to 11,000 square feet which would have made four core tenants possible.  

I-395 Plazas

In Eastern Connecticut, the 3,500-square-foot I-395 Plainfield plazas reopened Sept. 28. They had been closed since October 2011.

“Business is significantly better,” Modine revealed, “however, we don’t have our highway branding up yet (tenant signs on the blue highway signs) and our peak promotional period is in the spring time, which at that point, we will be starting our marketing efforts.”

He added that the company is “looking to see if it is feasible to add” more indoor seating to both plazas which have one table and two chairs each.

The Montville plaza closed Oct. 9 for renovations, which Modine has said are “progressing forward,” and that “we are on schedule”.

The building will not receive an expansion and is expected to reopen this summer. It will have the same design, size and vendors as the Plainfield plazas. Those plazas are anchored by Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, Mobil Mart and Mobil gas station. 

Completion

The $178 million project, paid for by private developers, to renovate all 23 plazas is expected to be completed by mid-2015. The State is expected to see a $500 million economic redevelopment from the project expected to create 340 new jobs.