New Jobs Coming, As Irish Company Moves Travel Plaza Headquarters to Bergen County

GLEN ROCK, NJ — Applegreen, an Irish-founded company, announced it will move its U.S. travel plaza headquarters to Glen Rock and create dozens of new job openings.

Governor Phil Murphy announced the company is making a $126 million investment in the Garden State during his visit to Ireland to meet with economic leaders.

The company will redevelop all 21 of New Jersey's highway service plazas, Murphy said, creating 800 new jobs in the coming years. Applegreen purchased the "key" service plazas last summer, Murphy's office said. Redevelopments at the Woodrow Wilson and Molly Pitcher travel plazas should be finished by July 4 of this year, according to the news release.

Applegreen's new headquarters in Glen Rock will add "at least 100" new jobs in administration, development, finance, and logistics to the region, according to a news release from Murphy's office. The company already has a presence in Glen Rock and has more than 5,000 U.S. employees, the news release said.

The exact location of the travel plaza headquarters and a timeline for the move has not been made public.

Applegreen is the largest highway service plaza operator in the U.S. and has more than 250 sites across 18 states, Murphy's office said.

Around the state, "the redeveloped plazas will offer commuters the latest technologies and highest standards of customer service including a focus on electric vehicle charging," the news release said.

Murphy said he, as a proud Irish-American, was excited to make the announcement with Applegreen.

"Applegreen is a world-class travel infrastructure partner who will generate significant economic growth for the state and bring innovation and expertise to the redevelopment of New Jersey’s 21 on-highway services plazas," Murphy said. "We welcome the hundreds of new jobs that Applegreen will bring to New Jersey and look forward to building a strong partnership that drives our state’s innovation economy forward.”

Elizabeth Pierce, president of Applegreen USA operations, said the company is "thrilled" to announce the move to Glen Rock.

“Northern New Jersey proved an ideal location for our headquarters as it is centrally located amidst many states in which we operate, is close to several major airports and offers top talent for our rapidly growing business," Pierce said in the news release.
“Our northeast footprint is expanding rapidly and the opening of our new Headquarters and redevelopment of 21 service plazas will enhance connectivity and convenience for our many customers. The creation of hundreds of new jobs through these exciting projects will deliver a significant boost to the New Jersey economy, and, as such, today’s announcement is a genuine Irish-American win-win.”