If you’re traveling into or outside of Connecticut on Interstate 95, you surely noticed the ongoing construction of the Darien Service Plazas which are preparing to reopen with new retail and food options.
The 24,000-square-foot buildings will feature stone siding on the bottom underneath windows and clapboard sides and sloping roofs.
Connecticut Department of Transportation Communication Director Judd Everhart said that the northbound plaza is slated to open in June and the southbound plaza is scheduled to open in July.
Everhart said that both will feature a Subway, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Alliance Convenience Store, Mobil-brand gas, Statement retail shop, Sbarros (a pizza concept), Cheese Boy (a grilled cheese concept), and Pinkberry (a yogurt concept).
The northbound plaza will additionally feature a Wilson’s BBQ (a BBQ concept) and Mac-n-Out (a macaroni and cheese concept).
Wilson’s BBQ has a restaurant in Fairfield.
The southbound plaza will also host a Good-to-Go (an organic food concept) and one more tenant to be decided.
Good-to-Go has an additional Connecticut restaurant in Milford’s I-95 Northbound Service Plaza.
After renovations are completed, McDonald’s and Mobil will be the only original two tenants.
Tenants that previously were at the Darien plazas that will not reopen include Espresso Time Cafe, Hebrew National, Sandella’s, Boston Pizza/Sub Melts, Faber Gift Shops, and a sunglasses kiosk.
The McDonald’s in the Darien northbound plaza has been noted as the busiest in the country.
With 153,000 vehicles a day traveling by, Everhart told the Newstimes, "historically, the northbound plaza and to a slightly lesser degree the southbound plaza as well has always performed very well due largely to their proximity to the metropolitan New York and New Jersey area as they are the closest on I-95 to heavy and usually hectic traffic of those areas," Everhart said.
Paul Landino, CEO of Project Service, the company responsible for renovating all 23 highway service plazas, told Newstimes, “This is going to be a big opening for us, because it gets a lot of regional traffic because of its status as the first major plaza after the Vince Lombardi plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike, and should serve a large portion of the mid-distance to long-distance travelers.”
The Darien Northbound facility is expected to feature a welcome center, which was temporarily moved to the Fairfield facility when the Darien plazas closed in March 2012.
The welcome center is operated by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Office of Culture and Tourism. They are open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Memorial Day to Labor Day and daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Labor Day to Memorial Day.
The office operates other welcome centers throughout the state located in Danbury, North Stonington, Westbrook, and West Willington.
The welcome center at the Greenwich Merritt Parkway Northbound Service Plaza temporarily closed with the plaza. The center is scheduled to reopen in the new plaza this September.
Patch readers: What are your thoughts of these new food offerings on Interstate 95?
