September 5, 2025 • 39 mins
Earlier this week, we spoke with Global Partners about the feud over who received the 35-year multimillion-dollar contract to renovate and operate 18 service plazas along Massachusetts roadways. Applegreen, a company founded in Ireland, won the bid for the contract, much to Global Partner’s displeasure. Global tried legally challenging the decision with not much luck. Diana Prosciotta, a representative for Applegreen joined us to address the bidding feud and discuss their plan to restore and operate the 18 MA service plazas.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much. I'll appreciate very much. We have
been following a story here on Nightside for several weeks
now dealing with a complete renovation restructure of the service
pauses and the Massachusetts Turnpike. They've been out there for many,
many years, and some of them are getting to look
(00:29):
a little worn down. And so there is a big
contract which was awarded by a commission within the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation to a company called Applegreen. It won,
the contract is not the contract has not yet been signed,
(00:52):
and the company that finished second was a company called
Global Partners. Now, a little bit of the controversy is
that Apple Green is a company that was founded in Ireland,
while where Global Partners is a company that has been
here for nearly one hundred years in Massachusetts. It's a
(01:13):
family owned company. It's actually a fortune five hundred company,
but it was it's controlled by family, the Slifka family.
And we've had Eric Slifka on the program, the CEO
and president of Global Partners and also Global Oil. It's
(01:34):
it's it's a complicated story, and they have filed a
lawsuit against the company for whom the award the contract
was awarded the again the Apple Green company. That lawsuit
is basically filed an emergency injunction against the mass DOT
(01:56):
to produce documents that they feel it's it's important for
the for they to see and for the public to
see before this thirty five year deal is signed. From
the perspective of the motorists, they obviously want to have
the best service Plaza, the most convenient service PASA, the
(02:17):
cleanest service Plaza. And since we talked with Eric Slifka,
the president of Global Partners on Wednesday night, we have
a representative spokesperson for Apple Green tonight, Diana Peshota. Diana,
Welcome to Night's Side. How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Good, Dan, Thanks so much for having me tonight. I'm
delighted to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Try to set the table there for you know, some
people know a lot about this. It's been followed very
closely John Cesto in the Globe, amongst others. And it
is a big contract. It's a thirty five year contract
which would which will run all the way till twenty sixty.
I mean, there aren't many thirty five year contracts. What
(03:01):
is the what is the cost. Is there is there
a numerical, a monetary number the value of this contract
that anybody has calculated.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, let's take a step back and talk about why
it's a thirty five year contract. M To completely rebuild
and renovate all eighteen of these service plazas is a
pretty significant investment. And to operate them to a world
class standard needs a world class operator. So you want
(03:33):
a partner that's really committed and in it for the
long term. Apple Green is a company that's over thirty
years old and is focused on providing outstanding hospitality in
service plazas. That is literally all we do, and so
you really want a partner like that to deliver a
world class experience.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And by the way, I just want to interrupt for
a second. You operate currently, although it is an Irish company,
you operate is it a dozen US states.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
We operate in? This will be our tenth US state,
and we currently operate one hundred and ten plazas, and
we have three drive throughs here in Massachusetts already.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Where are those located?
Speaker 3 (04:17):
If various locations along the highway, along.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
We are, along the.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, along the turnpike.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yes, along the Turnpike. Okay, fair enough, Okay, So I
wanted to give you every opportunity to talk about the
history and the qualifications of Apple Green, no question, But
I'm just trying to understand what is the value of
the contract or can it even be? Can you comprehend
what the value of that contract is?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I think as you started, it's a long contract, so
it's it's a little bit challenging to make the projections.
But let me tell you how we look at the contract.
We look at the contract in two parts. We look
at it in as an up on investment that we're
making in the facilities, in completely redoing the buildings, in
starting to invest in an additional seven hundred e fast
(05:10):
V charging stations, in redesigning the parking, et cetera. So
that's one part of how we think about it. The
other part how we think about it is the long
term operations of the plazas. So what we're doing in
terms of food and beverage sales, what we're doing in
convenience stores, what we're doing for fuel, and those things
together formed the basis of our proposal for how we
(05:33):
would support the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Okay, is there a number that you can attach to it.
I'm just trying to understand. You know. The reason I
asked this question is we always read the story about
the Red Sox newest player signs a ten year contract
for two hundred and fifty million dollars, whatever it is.
Don't you always think about contracts in terms of professional athletes,
the length of the contract and how much are they making.
(05:59):
And a lot of the the players will sign early
on in their career and they get the certainty of
maybe fifty or sixty billion dollars, but then they're locked
up by the team for eight I'm just wondering if
if there's any calculation as to what the value of
the contract is.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I don't have a number for that, but what I
can tell you is that everybody shares in the success
of the contract. A good part of our proposal to
mascot is that there's revenue sharing for food and beverage sales,
for fuel sales, and overall operations. So when Applegreen operates
(06:37):
these plazas to a great standard and delivers amazing products
to the residents of Massachusetts and the traveling public, not
only does Applegreen benefit the Coummealth of Massachusetts benefits in
additional revenue sharing.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, so I don't think I'm going to get a
specific number, but this contract has to be worth worth
billions dollars.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, I think it's it's somewhat interesting that you're you're
asking me this question and that this didn't come up
the other night, because I think Global as the incumbent
operator of the plazas, Uh, they were asked by a
color the other night, well, what was motivating them and
their team to focus on this? And I can't quite
remember what the answer was, but I think one of
(07:22):
the answers might be that they too lost a contract
that could be potentially meaningful to their business. Well, the question,
you know, and so I think there's this. The key
goal here is to make sure that the Commonwealth gets
an awesome service plaza experience for its residence and gets
(07:45):
a reliable, sustainable source of rent revenue.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Diana, don't think that I'm being unfair in asking you,
but I always I try to think and listen and
to what my guests are saying, and I'm I'm still
I have I have not seen a figure attached to what,
you know, the dollar value of the contract is obviously
(08:12):
both you and partners are in business too to provide
good service and all of that. Everyone's going to say
all those good words, but you're in You're a business,
and you're there to make a profit, just as they
are there to make a profit. So you know that.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And it's a fair enough question. I just don't have
the answer.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Okay, then we can we can move it may be
it may be a number that that is, uh, the
one that nobody could roughly roughly calculate. It's that's the
only reason I asked it. When we get back, we
can talk more about I want to talk about what
specifically Apple Green is going to do. What there what
(08:50):
what was the strength of your bid that won the contract? Uh?
And are you concerned about Global Partners still trying to
I guess convince the Department of Transportation on this commission
to take a second look and we'll get to all
of that. And also we have phone lines that are
(09:12):
quite active now for those of you on the line.
We won't start taking phone calls until nine thirty, but please,
if you're on hold, stay there and I will remind
all of you that whether you are calling to ask
a question or whether you were calling to support either
one of these companies. I'll ask you, as I asked
the other night, to be polite because anyone who's on
(09:33):
my program, I view them as a guest in my home,
and once you come on as a calling, you also
are our guests, and you can ask whatever questions you want.
You can be as tough as you want, but I
expect you to be fair and respectful. That's the only
rules of engagement here on Nightside. My name is Dan Ray.
This is Nightside. We are talking with Diana Pishota. She
is a spokesperson for Apple Green, the company that has
(09:56):
won the I'm going to say, very big contract to
renovate all of the service plazas on the Massachusetts Turnpike
as well as several others on one twenty eight through
twenty four, one in Barnstable, one in Bridgewater, and one
in Beverly as well. We'll be right back with Diana
Pashoda and more conversation with her at nine thirty. We'll
(10:18):
go to phone calls, coming back on night Side right after.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
This Night Side with Dan Ray ONBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
We're talking about improvements of the Massachusetts Turnpike, particularly at
the service plazas. Plaza Plaza is actually eleven there and
seven around the Commonwealth. Diana Prashota, a spokesperson for Apple Green,
is with us now Apple Green won the contract. So
the other night when I was talking with Eric Slifka
(10:50):
of Global Partners, he was trying to poke holes and
telling me why Global Partners should have won the contract.
We would like to start off with you, Diana, for
this segment, to tell me what do you think made
the difference that your company was awarded this contract over
(11:13):
Global Partners.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So maybe I'll use some of Mathot's own words. I
think they thought we had the vision to transform these
plazas in a way that met the kind of world
class standard that Massachusetts wants to be known for, both
for its residents and for visitors that come to this
state from around the globe. And what Apple Green brings
(11:39):
to the table is a really thoughtful plan to rebuild
or significantly renovate all eighteen plausas. We invested in advance
in coming up with three unique regional designs for the
spaces that were really excited about. They're just stunningly beautiful
and we're going to invest in seven hundred plus fast
(12:02):
evy charging stations. We're going to be redesigning the parking
so that it's easier to access. We're going to be
putting in beautiful new facilities for families, children's place, spaces
for long haul truckers. That vision is really the heart
of our bid. But the other piece that sets us
apart is our experience. Not only are we an experienced
(12:26):
operator that really brings that hospitality mindset to bear. All
fifteen hundred employees are Apple Green employees. We don't have
any sub tenants. They all report up to our team
and really care passionately about a great experience for the public.
But equally important, we've actually done transformative projects like this before.
(12:48):
We've In October, we will finish the last of twenty
seven plazas that we have rebuilt or renovated in the
New York Thruway system, and so we actually know exactly
how to do what the Commonwealth wants.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Us to do.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Okay, Now, Global Partners, and again I'm not here representing
Global Partners, they operate a lot of these service partners
not only have here in Massachusetts, but also around the
country and several states that One of the points that
was made to me the other night by Eric Slifka
was that the contract, the proposal that they had guaranteed
(13:27):
one point five billion dollars in revenue to the state
over the thirty five year life of the contract, which
they claim is a nine hundred million dollars almost a
billion dollars above what your revenue projections would provide. They're
hanging their hat on that differential. I want to give
(13:48):
you a chance to address that, is there, in fact
a differential. I know this gets very complicated, but give
it your best shot.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Okay, sure.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
There are a couple of ways that I want to
answer that question. First, it's not surprising to me that
Global is trying to hang its hat on its numbers.
It's because they don't have the experience, they don't have
the depth and breadth of qualifications, and they had a
proposal that the state called uninspiring, lacking envision and status quo.
So yes, i'd lean into the numbers too. Unfortunately, the
(14:21):
numbers that they're sharing are dishonest and inaccurate. We have
two very different approaches that we've taken, and that's part
of where the discrepancy and how we're framing the numbers
comes from. So what Apple Green is doing is we're
investing a fair amount of money, you know, seven hundred
and fifty million dollars over the life of the contract
in capital investments, but a lot of it in the
(14:43):
first three years. And Global put more money absolutely into
rent over the life of the contract. But to have
a fair comparison, you have to look at both of
those numbers in their totality in today's dollars. And when
you do that, it's a very small delta even more.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Important, and when you say delta, you mean a small difference.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Difference, a small difference because okay.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I just want to make sure everybody's with us.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
It's a great catch, it's a great catch. But there's
an even more important to make than that point, to
make than that one. KPMG which Global brought up the
other day. They're the third party accounting firm that looked
at the proposals and vised Mascot and its evaluation committee
looked at Global fuel projections for sales and called them unrealistic.
(15:34):
And as a result, both KPMG and the evaluation committee
were very seriously concerned that if Global couldn't meet those
unrealistic projections for fuel sales, they might need to either
renegotiate their bid or raise prices for consumers. That's something
(15:54):
every Massachusetts residence should be concerned about, and it's something
Global hasn't said a peep about.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
All Right, we're gonna take a break and when we
get back, we're going to get to phone calls. And again,
I just want to advise people, please be polite, be respectful.
You're gonna ask tough questions. Please don't take us too
deep into the weeds. And uh and we will will
do just fine. My guest is a representative for Apple Green.
(16:25):
This is the company that has won the contract. Again,
I forget sometimes that people are not up to date
on everything, But Diana Shota represents the company that has
won the contract. When do you think that contract is
going to be signed? I believe that the Global Is
(16:47):
has this application of an emergency injunction to get some
other materials. Do you guys have a timeframe on on
the signing of the contract.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
The outside date and deadline for it to be signed
will be November third. Uh. The goal is to have
the very best contract that provides the best protections to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and achieves the goals. So we're
going to take every minute that it takes to have
a really strong contract that protects the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Okay, so November third, that is a realistic signing the
completion of this, uh, this conversation.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That's yeah, that's that's the outside date. That's the deadline
that was in the RFP. If it happens a little
bit sooner and we have all of our i's dotted
and t's crossed, that would be wonderful. But the goal
is to do it right, not to do it fast.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Okay, we'll take a quick break. The numbers are the
lines of fold six one, seven, two, five, four, ten
thirty six, one, seven, nine, ten thirty got a news
break at the bottom of the hour. And after this,
it's all questions from you, the callers, And I know
you folks are going to be on your best behavior
coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on'ell you bs
Houston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
My guest is Diana. She is the spokesperson for Apple
Green and Diana, if you're ready, let's get to the phone.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I'll say I'm so excited to get to callers. Do
you mind if I correct some misinformation that was shared
earlier this week about the construction process. I'm a little
worried that your callers are going to be worried as
a result of that.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Okay, again, now, if you want to share a point
of view, that's fine. But again I just get a
little uncomfortable when people are saying misinformation. If you want
to give you a point of view, want it, let's
hear it, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Sure, So Apple Green is going to completely rebuild or
renovate all eighteen plausas. Unlike what was shared earlier this week,
it's actually a three year process. We do six plausas
a year over three years, not two years.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yes, I do remember that being being said at two years.
You're absolutely correct on that. I recall that. Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
We will never have consecutive plausas under construction. At the
same time, that's actually a mass dot requireronment. It was
in the RSP. Everybody would have been held to that standard,
so I want to be clear on that. And we
will never actually close down gas facilities. Gas facilities with
a couple of day long exceptions here and there, will
(19:15):
remain open. The entire time, so no need for mobile
gas trucks. And for me, it's really important. We're going
to be doing temporary bathrooms while the plazas that are
under reconstruction are under reconstruction, you'll be able to still
stop and go to the bathroom. So I just want
the public to know that we're doing everything we can
(19:37):
to assure that you get the best plaza at the
end of the day, but you also experience very little
disruption during the construction process.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
That is comforting. Let's start it off and we're going
to go right to the calls immediately. We're going to
go first to Vincent in Marblehead. Vincent, you were first
tonight with Diana for shot Up. She is the representative
for Applegreen.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Go right ahead, Vincent, and then thanks.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
For taking my call. I've been to some of the
service plausas that Global runs now, and honestly, they feel
a little outdated and unwelcoming, especially if when you need
to go to the bathroom. I'm curious what Apple Green
is planning to do to give travelers a better experience.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I suspect that bathrooms is not like the sexiest topic
to talk about, but they're actually super important to Apple Green.
During the life of our project, about two billion people
will walk through the service plausas, and most of them
will stop because they need to go to the bathroom.
So we take great pride in both building them out
(20:38):
to hotel quality standards and running them to a really
high standard of cleanliness. It's super important to us, and
it's something we're really committed to, and so if there's
anything that we care about, it's really having that front
door be a really strong one. Happy to also talk
(20:58):
about some of the food brands and other amenities if
people find that interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
All right, Vincent, appreciate you, Carl, thank you, good question,
Thank you very welcome. Let me go next to Bill
in Vermont. Bill, you in next on Nightside.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
No thanks to a Diana. First of all, congratulations on
the on the winning bid. But but you're still my
thunder because that's what I was going to talk about.
Mister Slipka, you know, said that for two years the
Pike service plauses and the guest thanks will be would
be closed, and I thought that can't be true because
while I don't drive the Pike much, I certainly drive
the New York State Thruway. So I want to congratulate
(21:34):
you on this on the call up bill.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Just for a second, I just want to make sure
I understand. I don't think he said that the plausas,
meaning in the entirety, would be closed. That's not what
you were saying, correct.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
That's well, that's but you know, we can differ on that.
That was my understanding.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Oh no, he didn't say that. He said pretty much
the same thing. Again, I have to defend both of
my guests. My recollection is pretty clear. He said that
that they would be closures to be done at a plaza,
but they would never be two consecutive plausas closed simultaneously,
just as Diana has mentioned that under the specifications of
(22:13):
the contract, you could never have you people driving on
the mass Turnpike one hundred and twenty five miles without
anywhere to stop to believe themselves or get a cup
of coffee. So he didn't say that.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Okay, well, that's fine, let's put it this way. I'm
glad that it's clarified that we know what.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
The I think Diana. I think Diana will agree with
me that that is that I'm being accurate representation of
what he.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Said in that regard it was a little fuzzy. I
think as a listener.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Well he well, he did. He was talking in terms
of a two year project, and you're saying it's actually
a three year project for you guys, and that it's
not nine being done in eighteen being done in two years.
Nine a year. You're saying six per year for three years.
So there's a there's a difference there. But he never
ever ever, I know. So anyway, Bill, just accept that
(23:06):
as a clarification and a correction.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Go ahead, Bill uh enough said, but he did say this,
He mentioned that he thought there was a fix, and Dan,
I thought you did a great job protecting your show
and your reputation because it felt like he was really
getting onto some thin legalized there when well that.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Literally, well, thank you for thank you for recalling that.
You do recall that accurately, because again, that is a
word that does have some implications, but have criminal potential,
criminal consequences, And I wanted to object to that politely,
but I did do it.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I did, and that's just that's a very serious allegation.
And he said there's a conflict of interest. I'm not
sure where he get that from, but that that is
an accusation not just against Apple Free, but against mas dot.
If that's that's I just felt like he was over
the line by saying that, And again I would hope
Diana would be able to respond and sort of walk
us through. All the process was transparent. This was a
public procurement, and you have to understand that it had
(24:04):
to be above boarder less and less I misunderstand how
these things work.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
For what it's worth. From the Apple Green point of view,
accountability and transparency and integrity are incredibly important values for
our company, and we've been through similar RFP processes in
the other states that we worked on. From our perspective,
it's been a above board process. One of the things
that MAST did right at the outset, at the very
(24:33):
beginning of the process is they laid out their evaluation
criteria from day one. So from day one, every single
bidder knew that they really prioritized investments in the buildings,
investments in evy charging systems, in really strong qualifications and experience,
et cetera. So for us, it's been a great process.
(24:57):
What's interesting to me is that over the last several
weeks at globals Behest, mass Dot has released probably tens
of thousands of pages of documentation about the bid process.
Global's gotten it. We've gotten it. We've gone through it
with a pretty fine tooth comb, and to us, it
(25:18):
shows a process that has been run to a pretty
high standard, designed to achieve a very specific set of
goals for the Commonwealth. But I also think it's really
important to hold both the state and the winners of
public bidding process to a high standard of accountability. And
I think we won because we had the best bid,
(25:38):
and I'm happy to have everybody hold us accountable to
a high standard.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
All right, appreciate the answer. I appreciate the question. Bill,
Thank you very much. Let me go next to Bill
in Boston.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Bill, you are next on Nightside, Dan, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Always a pleasure to listen to your show. Another great
informational show. I appreciate it. And I've been following this
because I used the Pike all the time and use
those plausas all the time. So this is an issue
in which I'm very invested. And I will have a
question for miss Dinah here in just a moment. I
want to address something at the first caller said, talking
(26:11):
about the cleanliness of the bathrooms, the facilities. Global Partners
only operates the convenience markets and the fuel operations. They're
a subtenant. McDonald's actually is the master tenant. So it's
the responsibility of McDonald's, not Global Partners. And it's an
errative that Applegreen keeps pushing out there that Global Partners
is responsible for the facilities and they're not.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
But I think that was the caller that was not Diana.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
No No, I know right, I've never said an older
I had mentioned no, no, no, no. Of course it
has come out previously in published reports. Uh you know
that have been that have been out the newspapers. But
I do want to ask Mss Diana the the as
a taxpayer here in the Commonwealth, I have a hard
time accepting this deal because one of the issues, of course,
(26:58):
that we've read about is these nine hundred million dollars
more that that Global Partners deal offers more than Apple Greens,
the company your PR firm is representing, And there's been
no dispute about that money. And you mentioned earlier KPMG
Mass Dots of course hired them for the financial analyst,
(27:18):
and KPMG concluded in the report that Apple Greens terms
donating fact meet the state's revenue goals, and conversely, Global
Partners terms do meet the state's revenue goals. So I'm
a little bit confused as to how taxpayers should accept
the deal of this nature.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Okay, let's get Diana to respond to that Diana.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
God has and so if I may start by politely
correcting two things from your caller, as I understand it,
Global actually operates four of the eighteen plazas in their
entirety today, so I just want to be clear about that.
I don't know enough about their subtenant agreements to speak
to them, so I do want to be clear about that. Second,
(28:03):
you know, Apple Green prefers to let our records stand
for ourselves and to speak only about our operations. Under
most circumstances, we would never talk about a competitor. It's
really because Global has been pushing a lot of inaccurate
information about our bid and our company that we have
felt compelled to do so. But I have never once
(28:24):
or never has anybody in Apple Green spoken about Global's
current state of operations across any of the process. So
I want to be very clear about that. That's not
who we are as a company, and we would never
undertake that kind of a campaign in any circumstances.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
A question you're going to respond.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
As it relates to the dollars, There is no doubt
that Global put more money into rent than Apple Green did.
We don't dispute that. We've said that from the very
beginning that we had different models. Our model looked at
this from the perspective of a capital investment as the
(29:03):
leading edge of what we were doing with really strong, reliable,
sustainable rent that the Commonwealth could count on and that
would have really significant upside when we did really well
in the operations of the facilities and did great revenue
sharing from food and beverage and convenience stores sales. Where
(29:25):
I think Global is potentially putting the public in a
position of not having enough accurate information is that they
are not looking at comparing apples to apples in terms
of today's dollars. Of the rent bids in today's dollars,
rent bids from Global is eight hundred and forty five
(29:47):
million in today's dollars, Apple Green is five fifty one.
There is a difference there. We don't dispute that, but
there's a reason that the Commonwealth only had financial performance
as twenty five percent of its scoring criteria because it
had bigger goals, a bigger vision, and they knew they
(30:07):
needed a world class operator to carry out that vision.
That's why they counted experience, they counted sustainability, and they
counted an approach to the plausas design, operations, and maintenance
as much more significant. So I get your point, and
(30:28):
reasonable people can disagree on that, but I'm confident that
we're doing what's best for Massachusetts with our project.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Okay, Bill, thank you very much for the point you
made and the questions that you asked, and thank you
Diana for the answer. We've got to keep rolling here.
We have a quick commercial break. We're going to try
to get to at least four callers. Nicole, Madlin, Mike
and Tracy. Get ready. You're coming up next right after
this break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Were only about seven or eight minutes left here. I'm
going to ask everyone to please be as concise as
you can with your question. Some of you who've waited
quite a while, I'll take you in order. Mike and Quincy.
Mike next on Nice side with Diana for Shota. Go
right ahead.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
Yeah, Hey Dan, Hey Dana, thanks for having me on.
I was looking forward as hearing from someone from Apple Green.
But I think you're just a lobbyist. But thanks for
coming on.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Now hold on, wait a second. She is the representative
of Apple Green. That's a cheap shot. Just a lobbyist.
That's a cheap shot. So improve the question and we're
going to move on. Mike, go ahead. All right.
Speaker 7 (31:38):
Yeah, I just got to say, you know, how do
we know what type of guarantees is Apple Green putting
out there for their investment. The global guys were talking about,
you know, their guarantee and everything, but I haven't heard
that from Apple.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Okay, let's get an answer from Diana. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
I think that what we have done is put together
a reliable, realistic bid based on our past experience. We
have every confidence that we're going to drive it forward.
We have every track record that shows we bring that
to the table. And while I appreciate that the word
guarantee sounds terrific, I think every I has to be
(32:19):
dotted and every tea has to be crossed, and until
you have assigned lease, I'm not going to assume that
anybody's guarantee is ironclad.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Let's
keep growining and kind of go to n Cole and Springfield.
Nicole next on night sagger ahead.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
Good.
Speaker 8 (32:34):
Even as a free point through way frequent traveler, I'm
really impressed by the structure that Apple Green is built.
I was just wondering will they be doing similar structures
in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
We have three unique designs for Massachusetts. They're made specifically
for Massachusetts. They're designed to reflect the different regions coastal, Metro,
and western. So the same quality as what you're seeing
on the New York State Thruway, but very unique to Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
All right, thank you, good, thank you, Nicole. Appreciate your question.
Let me keep rolling here. We've got two quick calls.
I like that, Tracy and Natick. Tracy, you're next one
night side, go ahead.
Speaker 9 (33:17):
Hey Dan, thanks for taking my call. I've been following
this thing for a while. I've read all the Globe
stories and so it feels like a lot of this
it feels like there's a lot of things that don't
pass the sniff test, right, and I know that both sides.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
You're going to have your opinion, but that's not a fact.
Speaker 9 (33:33):
Go ahead, No, No, I just mean I think that
there's a lot of questions that have been Give us.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
A question, you can respond to. Give us a question
she can respond to.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
You will that.
Speaker 9 (33:42):
This is my question. If everybody's doing the right thing,
both sides say we did the right thing. Everybody's doing
the right thing. Miss a billion dollars and thirty five years.
Isn't it worth it to take time to do it
over if the process needs to be rebid or re examined.
It just feels like things are in a rush.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Okay, let's get here. You have you have the question.
I can understand why said you won the contract. You
might you probably don't agree with Tracy, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Well, I really believed in a strong public process. This
was a year long process. The RFP had a pre
qualification stage, an RFP stage. It benefited from multiple third
party analysts who supported Mascot in the review process, et cetera.
And subsequent to that process, thousands of pages of documents
(34:31):
have been released and have been transparently shared with both
bidders and so I actually commend the Commonwealth for their
commitment to transparency, and I'm just really proud of our
bid and the integrity with which we approached it, So
I of course believe that it can stand up to
(34:51):
every last bit of scrutiny that you want to give it.
But any delay is a delay in the commonwealth and
its residents getting better service process, and any delay the
incumbent getting the revenue that they've always gotten without much
improvement for Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
All right, throw enough, Tracy, appreciate your call. I'm just
trying to get everyone in. Let me go next to
Madeleine in Framingham, next to Natick Madeline, You're next on
nice side. Got to be quick with Diana pushuld it
go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (35:20):
By Thank you so much for having me Dan and Diana.
My question. I read an article today in the BBJ
and the Boston Business Journal that talked about the plazas
being gateways to Massachusetts. What's your opinion on this?
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Oh? Absolutely, that's actually how we came into thinking about this,
and I honestly think that's probably how mass dot designed
this RFP process, is that these are places that maybe
people don't give a lot of thought to, but when
they stop there and they have a great experience, it
makes them think great things about Massachusetts, and that's the
kind of partner we want to be in this state
(35:56):
and quite frankly, everywhere we operate.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Thank you, excuse me, Madeline, Thank you, Madeleine. I appreciate
your call. Next up, we're moving fast here, so that's good,
Kelsey and Braintreet. Kelsey, you're next the night's side with
my guests, Diana Shooter, go right ahead.
Speaker 10 (36:15):
Thanks for having me. I heard you guys talk about
this on Wednesday, I think with Eric and so I
just wanted to daft Diana if she maybe wanted to
explain or respond to those alleged conflicts of interest between
Apple Green and Scott Bosworth and all the big partners
that stuff of construction, and if there's anything you guys
are willing to release or talk about publicly to kind
(36:36):
of squash this stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I don't think there were any specifics mentioned on Wednesday night.
I tried to move that conversation away from that.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
That suggestion, and from my perspective, there is not a
single wit of truth to any of those allegations. And
from the only person I can speak to is Apple
Green and our team, and at every step of the
way we acted with integrity because we knew we could.
We have the best company, the best bid, the best experience,
(37:07):
and the best investment for the common wolf of Massachusetts.
And that is what I stake my claim on every
day of the week.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Okay, Kelsey, thank you, We're going to try to get
one more in here. You got to be quick. You
just called Grace.
Speaker 8 (37:20):
Go ahead, Grace and Quincy, Hey, yeah, thank you for
having me.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
I guess my question is this, So on Tuesday or
Wednesday we.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Had Eric from Global on and I'm.
Speaker 9 (37:33):
Just wondering, where is the CEO of Applegrain?
Speaker 10 (37:35):
Why is there representative?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
That's their decision.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I couldn't turn down the yah. I fought for this one.
I really wanted to be here. Honestly, We've got hundreds
of people right now that are like literally laser focused
on getting ready to take over these plazas on January one.
And while we definitely wanted to make sure our side
of the story, it was part of the story. I
(38:03):
volunteer and I ask you one more looking on the
real work.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
All right. Unfortunately, Grace, you called really late. I got
you in, but I'm up against the clock and I
gotta I gotta let you go. I appreciate you your question. Nonetheless, Diana,
thank you very much for your time tonight, and I
hope you feel that you had an opportunity to present
the other.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Point of view if the super Dan. You've been a
wonderful host and conversationalist, and it's been fun. I'm not
sure everybody thinks talking about service plausas is fun, but
I sure do. And it's been a great conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
The reason why I've done this and we've dived into
this issue is all of us, at some point we'll
find ourselves on the Massachusetts Turnpark. We may not have
an economic mistake, and who wins or who loses. You
hope that the decision that has made is the right decision,
but they will come in time when all of us
will have to use one of those restrooms or fill
(38:57):
up with some gas or enjoying me. So if your
success continues, I hope that you do the best job
for all of the citizens of Massachusetts. I appreciate it
guying it. Thank you very much. When we get back,
we're going to change topics and we're going to talk
about to arrests today in two absolutely senseless murders one
(39:21):
in Washington and one in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. We'll be back
right after the ten o'clock news. Here on a Friday
night edition of Nightside
It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much. I'll appreciate very much. We have
been following a story here on Nightside for several weeks
now dealing with a complete renovation restructure of the service
pauses and the Massachusetts Turnpike. They've been out there for many,
many years, and some of them are getting to look
(00:29):
a little worn down. And so there is a big
contract which was awarded by a commission within the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation to a company called Applegreen. It won,
the contract is not the contract has not yet been signed,
(00:52):
and the company that finished second was a company called
Global Partners. Now, a little bit of the controversy is
that Apple Green is a company that was founded in Ireland,
while where Global Partners is a company that has been
here for nearly one hundred years in Massachusetts. It's a
(01:13):
family owned company. It's actually a fortune five hundred company,
but it was it's controlled by family, the Slifka family.
And we've had Eric Slifka on the program, the CEO
and president of Global Partners and also Global Oil. It's
(01:34):
it's it's a complicated story, and they have filed a
lawsuit against the company for whom the award the contract
was awarded the again the Apple Green company. That lawsuit
is basically filed an emergency injunction against the mass DOT
(01:56):
to produce documents that they feel it's it's important for
the for they to see and for the public to
see before this thirty five year deal is signed. From
the perspective of the motorists, they obviously want to have
the best service Plaza, the most convenient service PASA, the
(02:17):
cleanest service Plaza. And since we talked with Eric Slifka,
the president of Global Partners on Wednesday night, we have
a representative spokesperson for Apple Green tonight, Diana Peshota. Diana,
Welcome to Night's Side. How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Good, Dan, Thanks so much for having me tonight. I'm
delighted to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Try to set the table there for you know, some
people know a lot about this. It's been followed very
closely John Cesto in the Globe, amongst others. And it
is a big contract. It's a thirty five year contract
which would which will run all the way till twenty sixty.
I mean, there aren't many thirty five year contracts. What
(03:01):
is the what is the cost. Is there is there
a numerical, a monetary number the value of this contract
that anybody has calculated.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, let's take a step back and talk about why
it's a thirty five year contract. M To completely rebuild
and renovate all eighteen of these service plazas is a
pretty significant investment. And to operate them to a world
class standard needs a world class operator. So you want
(03:33):
a partner that's really committed and in it for the
long term. Apple Green is a company that's over thirty
years old and is focused on providing outstanding hospitality in
service plazas. That is literally all we do, and so
you really want a partner like that to deliver a
world class experience.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And by the way, I just want to interrupt for
a second. You operate currently, although it is an Irish company,
you operate is it a dozen US states.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
We operate in? This will be our tenth US state,
and we currently operate one hundred and ten plazas, and
we have three drive throughs here in Massachusetts already.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Where are those located?
Speaker 3 (04:17):
If various locations along the highway, along.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
We are, along the.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, along the turnpike.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yes, along the Turnpike. Okay, fair enough, Okay, So I
wanted to give you every opportunity to talk about the
history and the qualifications of Apple Green, no question, But
I'm just trying to understand what is the value of
the contract or can it even be? Can you comprehend
what the value of that contract is?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I think as you started, it's a long contract, so
it's it's a little bit challenging to make the projections.
But let me tell you how we look at the contract.
We look at the contract in two parts. We look
at it in as an up on investment that we're
making in the facilities, in completely redoing the buildings, in
starting to invest in an additional seven hundred e fast
(05:10):
V charging stations, in redesigning the parking, et cetera. So
that's one part of how we think about it. The
other part how we think about it is the long
term operations of the plazas. So what we're doing in
terms of food and beverage sales, what we're doing in
convenience stores, what we're doing for fuel, and those things
together formed the basis of our proposal for how we
(05:33):
would support the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Okay, is there a number that you can attach to it.
I'm just trying to understand. You know. The reason I
asked this question is we always read the story about
the Red Sox newest player signs a ten year contract
for two hundred and fifty million dollars, whatever it is.
Don't you always think about contracts in terms of professional athletes,
the length of the contract and how much are they making.
(05:59):
And a lot of the the players will sign early
on in their career and they get the certainty of
maybe fifty or sixty billion dollars, but then they're locked
up by the team for eight I'm just wondering if
if there's any calculation as to what the value of
the contract is.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I don't have a number for that, but what I
can tell you is that everybody shares in the success
of the contract. A good part of our proposal to
mascot is that there's revenue sharing for food and beverage sales,
for fuel sales, and overall operations. So when Applegreen operates
(06:37):
these plazas to a great standard and delivers amazing products
to the residents of Massachusetts and the traveling public, not
only does Applegreen benefit the Coummealth of Massachusetts benefits in
additional revenue sharing.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, so I don't think I'm going to get a
specific number, but this contract has to be worth worth
billions dollars.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, I think it's it's somewhat interesting that you're you're
asking me this question and that this didn't come up
the other night, because I think Global as the incumbent
operator of the plazas, Uh, they were asked by a
color the other night, well, what was motivating them and
their team to focus on this? And I can't quite
remember what the answer was, but I think one of
(07:22):
the answers might be that they too lost a contract
that could be potentially meaningful to their business. Well, the question,
you know, and so I think there's this. The key
goal here is to make sure that the Commonwealth gets
an awesome service plaza experience for its residence and gets
(07:45):
a reliable, sustainable source of rent revenue.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Diana, don't think that I'm being unfair in asking you,
but I always I try to think and listen and
to what my guests are saying, and I'm I'm still
I have I have not seen a figure attached to what,
you know, the dollar value of the contract is obviously
(08:12):
both you and partners are in business too to provide
good service and all of that. Everyone's going to say
all those good words, but you're in You're a business,
and you're there to make a profit, just as they
are there to make a profit. So you know that.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And it's a fair enough question. I just don't have
the answer.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Okay, then we can we can move it may be
it may be a number that that is, uh, the
one that nobody could roughly roughly calculate. It's that's the
only reason I asked it. When we get back, we
can talk more about I want to talk about what
specifically Apple Green is going to do. What there what
(08:50):
what was the strength of your bid that won the contract? Uh?
And are you concerned about Global Partners still trying to
I guess convince the Department of Transportation on this commission
to take a second look and we'll get to all
of that. And also we have phone lines that are
(09:12):
quite active now for those of you on the line.
We won't start taking phone calls until nine thirty, but please,
if you're on hold, stay there and I will remind
all of you that whether you are calling to ask
a question or whether you were calling to support either
one of these companies. I'll ask you, as I asked
the other night, to be polite because anyone who's on
(09:33):
my program, I view them as a guest in my home,
and once you come on as a calling, you also
are our guests, and you can ask whatever questions you want.
You can be as tough as you want, but I
expect you to be fair and respectful. That's the only
rules of engagement here on Nightside. My name is Dan Ray.
This is Nightside. We are talking with Diana Pishota. She
is a spokesperson for Apple Green, the company that has
(09:56):
won the I'm going to say, very big contract to
renovate all of the service plazas on the Massachusetts Turnpike
as well as several others on one twenty eight through
twenty four, one in Barnstable, one in Bridgewater, and one
in Beverly as well. We'll be right back with Diana
Pashoda and more conversation with her at nine thirty. We'll
(10:18):
go to phone calls, coming back on night Side right after.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
This Night Side with Dan Ray ONBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
We're talking about improvements of the Massachusetts Turnpike, particularly at
the service plazas. Plaza Plaza is actually eleven there and
seven around the Commonwealth. Diana Prashota, a spokesperson for Apple Green,
is with us now Apple Green won the contract. So
the other night when I was talking with Eric Slifka
(10:50):
of Global Partners, he was trying to poke holes and
telling me why Global Partners should have won the contract.
We would like to start off with you, Diana, for
this segment, to tell me what do you think made
the difference that your company was awarded this contract over
(11:13):
Global Partners.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So maybe I'll use some of Mathot's own words. I
think they thought we had the vision to transform these
plazas in a way that met the kind of world
class standard that Massachusetts wants to be known for, both
for its residents and for visitors that come to this
state from around the globe. And what Apple Green brings
(11:39):
to the table is a really thoughtful plan to rebuild
or significantly renovate all eighteen plausas. We invested in advance
in coming up with three unique regional designs for the
spaces that were really excited about. They're just stunningly beautiful
and we're going to invest in seven hundred plus fast
(12:02):
evy charging stations. We're going to be redesigning the parking
so that it's easier to access. We're going to be
putting in beautiful new facilities for families, children's place, spaces
for long haul truckers. That vision is really the heart
of our bid. But the other piece that sets us
apart is our experience. Not only are we an experienced
(12:26):
operator that really brings that hospitality mindset to bear. All
fifteen hundred employees are Apple Green employees. We don't have
any sub tenants. They all report up to our team
and really care passionately about a great experience for the public.
But equally important, we've actually done transformative projects like this before.
(12:48):
We've In October, we will finish the last of twenty
seven plazas that we have rebuilt or renovated in the
New York Thruway system, and so we actually know exactly
how to do what the Commonwealth wants.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Us to do.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Okay, Now, Global Partners, and again I'm not here representing
Global Partners, they operate a lot of these service partners
not only have here in Massachusetts, but also around the
country and several states that One of the points that
was made to me the other night by Eric Slifka
was that the contract, the proposal that they had guaranteed
(13:27):
one point five billion dollars in revenue to the state
over the thirty five year life of the contract, which
they claim is a nine hundred million dollars almost a
billion dollars above what your revenue projections would provide. They're
hanging their hat on that differential. I want to give
(13:48):
you a chance to address that, is there, in fact
a differential. I know this gets very complicated, but give
it your best shot.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Okay, sure.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
There are a couple of ways that I want to
answer that question. First, it's not surprising to me that
Global is trying to hang its hat on its numbers.
It's because they don't have the experience, they don't have
the depth and breadth of qualifications, and they had a
proposal that the state called uninspiring, lacking envision and status quo.
So yes, i'd lean into the numbers too. Unfortunately, the
(14:21):
numbers that they're sharing are dishonest and inaccurate. We have
two very different approaches that we've taken, and that's part
of where the discrepancy and how we're framing the numbers
comes from. So what Apple Green is doing is we're
investing a fair amount of money, you know, seven hundred
and fifty million dollars over the life of the contract
in capital investments, but a lot of it in the
(14:43):
first three years. And Global put more money absolutely into
rent over the life of the contract. But to have
a fair comparison, you have to look at both of
those numbers in their totality in today's dollars. And when
you do that, it's a very small delta even more.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Important, and when you say delta, you mean a small difference.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Difference, a small difference because okay.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I just want to make sure everybody's with us.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
It's a great catch, it's a great catch. But there's
an even more important to make than that point, to
make than that one. KPMG which Global brought up the
other day. They're the third party accounting firm that looked
at the proposals and vised Mascot and its evaluation committee
looked at Global fuel projections for sales and called them unrealistic.
(15:34):
And as a result, both KPMG and the evaluation committee
were very seriously concerned that if Global couldn't meet those
unrealistic projections for fuel sales, they might need to either
renegotiate their bid or raise prices for consumers. That's something
(15:54):
every Massachusetts residence should be concerned about, and it's something
Global hasn't said a peep about.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
All Right, we're gonna take a break and when we
get back, we're going to get to phone calls. And again,
I just want to advise people, please be polite, be respectful.
You're gonna ask tough questions. Please don't take us too
deep into the weeds. And uh and we will will
do just fine. My guest is a representative for Apple Green.
(16:25):
This is the company that has won the contract. Again,
I forget sometimes that people are not up to date
on everything, But Diana Shota represents the company that has
won the contract. When do you think that contract is
going to be signed? I believe that the Global Is
(16:47):
has this application of an emergency injunction to get some
other materials. Do you guys have a timeframe on on
the signing of the contract.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
The outside date and deadline for it to be signed
will be November third. Uh. The goal is to have
the very best contract that provides the best protections to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and achieves the goals. So we're
going to take every minute that it takes to have
a really strong contract that protects the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Okay, so November third, that is a realistic signing the
completion of this, uh, this conversation.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That's yeah, that's that's the outside date. That's the deadline
that was in the RFP. If it happens a little
bit sooner and we have all of our i's dotted
and t's crossed, that would be wonderful. But the goal
is to do it right, not to do it fast.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Okay, we'll take a quick break. The numbers are the
lines of fold six one, seven, two, five, four, ten
thirty six, one, seven, nine, ten thirty got a news
break at the bottom of the hour. And after this,
it's all questions from you, the callers, And I know
you folks are going to be on your best behavior
coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on'ell you bs
Houston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
My guest is Diana. She is the spokesperson for Apple
Green and Diana, if you're ready, let's get to the phone.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I'll say I'm so excited to get to callers. Do
you mind if I correct some misinformation that was shared
earlier this week about the construction process. I'm a little
worried that your callers are going to be worried as
a result of that.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Okay, again, now, if you want to share a point
of view, that's fine. But again I just get a
little uncomfortable when people are saying misinformation. If you want
to give you a point of view, want it, let's
hear it, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Sure, So Apple Green is going to completely rebuild or
renovate all eighteen plausas. Unlike what was shared earlier this week,
it's actually a three year process. We do six plausas
a year over three years, not two years.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yes, I do remember that being being said at two years.
You're absolutely correct on that. I recall that. Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
We will never have consecutive plausas under construction. At the
same time, that's actually a mass dot requireronment. It was
in the RSP. Everybody would have been held to that standard,
so I want to be clear on that. And we
will never actually close down gas facilities. Gas facilities with
a couple of day long exceptions here and there, will
(19:15):
remain open. The entire time, so no need for mobile
gas trucks. And for me, it's really important. We're going
to be doing temporary bathrooms while the plazas that are
under reconstruction are under reconstruction, you'll be able to still
stop and go to the bathroom. So I just want
the public to know that we're doing everything we can
(19:37):
to assure that you get the best plaza at the
end of the day, but you also experience very little
disruption during the construction process.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
That is comforting. Let's start it off and we're going
to go right to the calls immediately. We're going to
go first to Vincent in Marblehead. Vincent, you were first
tonight with Diana for shot Up. She is the representative
for Applegreen.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Go right ahead, Vincent, and then thanks.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
For taking my call. I've been to some of the
service plausas that Global runs now, and honestly, they feel
a little outdated and unwelcoming, especially if when you need
to go to the bathroom. I'm curious what Apple Green
is planning to do to give travelers a better experience.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I suspect that bathrooms is not like the sexiest topic
to talk about, but they're actually super important to Apple Green.
During the life of our project, about two billion people
will walk through the service plausas, and most of them
will stop because they need to go to the bathroom.
So we take great pride in both building them out
(20:38):
to hotel quality standards and running them to a really
high standard of cleanliness. It's super important to us, and
it's something we're really committed to, and so if there's
anything that we care about, it's really having that front
door be a really strong one. Happy to also talk
(20:58):
about some of the food brands and other amenities if
people find that interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
All right, Vincent, appreciate you, Carl, thank you, good question,
Thank you very welcome. Let me go next to Bill
in Vermont. Bill, you in next on Nightside.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
No thanks to a Diana. First of all, congratulations on
the on the winning bid. But but you're still my
thunder because that's what I was going to talk about.
Mister Slipka, you know, said that for two years the
Pike service plauses and the guest thanks will be would
be closed, and I thought that can't be true because
while I don't drive the Pike much, I certainly drive
the New York State Thruway. So I want to congratulate
(21:34):
you on this on the call up bill.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Just for a second, I just want to make sure
I understand. I don't think he said that the plausas,
meaning in the entirety, would be closed. That's not what
you were saying, correct.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
That's well, that's but you know, we can differ on that.
That was my understanding.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Oh no, he didn't say that. He said pretty much
the same thing. Again, I have to defend both of
my guests. My recollection is pretty clear. He said that
that they would be closures to be done at a plaza,
but they would never be two consecutive plausas closed simultaneously,
just as Diana has mentioned that under the specifications of
(22:13):
the contract, you could never have you people driving on
the mass Turnpike one hundred and twenty five miles without
anywhere to stop to believe themselves or get a cup
of coffee. So he didn't say that.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Okay, well, that's fine, let's put it this way. I'm
glad that it's clarified that we know what.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
The I think Diana. I think Diana will agree with
me that that is that I'm being accurate representation of
what he.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Said in that regard it was a little fuzzy. I
think as a listener.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Well he well, he did. He was talking in terms
of a two year project, and you're saying it's actually
a three year project for you guys, and that it's
not nine being done in eighteen being done in two years.
Nine a year. You're saying six per year for three years.
So there's a there's a difference there. But he never
ever ever, I know. So anyway, Bill, just accept that
(23:06):
as a clarification and a correction.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Go ahead, Bill uh enough said, but he did say this,
He mentioned that he thought there was a fix, and Dan,
I thought you did a great job protecting your show
and your reputation because it felt like he was really
getting onto some thin legalized there when well that.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Literally, well, thank you for thank you for recalling that.
You do recall that accurately, because again, that is a
word that does have some implications, but have criminal potential,
criminal consequences, And I wanted to object to that politely,
but I did do it.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I did, and that's just that's a very serious allegation.
And he said there's a conflict of interest. I'm not
sure where he get that from, but that that is
an accusation not just against Apple Free, but against mas dot.
If that's that's I just felt like he was over
the line by saying that, And again I would hope
Diana would be able to respond and sort of walk
us through. All the process was transparent. This was a
public procurement, and you have to understand that it had
(24:04):
to be above boarder less and less I misunderstand how
these things work.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
For what it's worth. From the Apple Green point of view,
accountability and transparency and integrity are incredibly important values for
our company, and we've been through similar RFP processes in
the other states that we worked on. From our perspective,
it's been a above board process. One of the things
that MAST did right at the outset, at the very
(24:33):
beginning of the process is they laid out their evaluation
criteria from day one. So from day one, every single
bidder knew that they really prioritized investments in the buildings,
investments in evy charging systems, in really strong qualifications and experience,
et cetera. So for us, it's been a great process.
(24:57):
What's interesting to me is that over the last several
weeks at globals Behest, mass Dot has released probably tens
of thousands of pages of documentation about the bid process.
Global's gotten it. We've gotten it. We've gone through it
with a pretty fine tooth comb, and to us, it
(25:18):
shows a process that has been run to a pretty
high standard, designed to achieve a very specific set of
goals for the Commonwealth. But I also think it's really
important to hold both the state and the winners of
public bidding process to a high standard of accountability. And
I think we won because we had the best bid,
(25:38):
and I'm happy to have everybody hold us accountable to
a high standard.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
All right, appreciate the answer. I appreciate the question. Bill,
Thank you very much. Let me go next to Bill
in Boston.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Bill, you are next on Nightside, Dan, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Always a pleasure to listen to your show. Another great
informational show. I appreciate it. And I've been following this
because I used the Pike all the time and use
those plausas all the time. So this is an issue
in which I'm very invested. And I will have a
question for miss Dinah here in just a moment. I
want to address something at the first caller said, talking
(26:11):
about the cleanliness of the bathrooms, the facilities. Global Partners
only operates the convenience markets and the fuel operations. They're
a subtenant. McDonald's actually is the master tenant. So it's
the responsibility of McDonald's, not Global Partners. And it's an
errative that Applegreen keeps pushing out there that Global Partners
is responsible for the facilities and they're not.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
But I think that was the caller that was not Diana.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
No No, I know right, I've never said an older
I had mentioned no, no, no, no. Of course it
has come out previously in published reports. Uh you know
that have been that have been out the newspapers. But
I do want to ask Mss Diana the the as
a taxpayer here in the Commonwealth, I have a hard
time accepting this deal because one of the issues, of course,
(26:58):
that we've read about is these nine hundred million dollars
more that that Global Partners deal offers more than Apple Greens,
the company your PR firm is representing, And there's been
no dispute about that money. And you mentioned earlier KPMG
Mass Dots of course hired them for the financial analyst,
(27:18):
and KPMG concluded in the report that Apple Greens terms
donating fact meet the state's revenue goals, and conversely, Global
Partners terms do meet the state's revenue goals. So I'm
a little bit confused as to how taxpayers should accept
the deal of this nature.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Okay, let's get Diana to respond to that Diana.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
God has and so if I may start by politely
correcting two things from your caller, as I understand it,
Global actually operates four of the eighteen plazas in their
entirety today, so I just want to be clear about that.
I don't know enough about their subtenant agreements to speak
to them, so I do want to be clear about that. Second,
(28:03):
you know, Apple Green prefers to let our records stand
for ourselves and to speak only about our operations. Under
most circumstances, we would never talk about a competitor. It's
really because Global has been pushing a lot of inaccurate
information about our bid and our company that we have
felt compelled to do so. But I have never once
(28:24):
or never has anybody in Apple Green spoken about Global's
current state of operations across any of the process. So
I want to be very clear about that. That's not
who we are as a company, and we would never
undertake that kind of a campaign in any circumstances.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
A question you're going to respond.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
As it relates to the dollars, There is no doubt
that Global put more money into rent than Apple Green did.
We don't dispute that. We've said that from the very
beginning that we had different models. Our model looked at
this from the perspective of a capital investment as the
(29:03):
leading edge of what we were doing with really strong, reliable,
sustainable rent that the Commonwealth could count on and that
would have really significant upside when we did really well
in the operations of the facilities and did great revenue
sharing from food and beverage and convenience stores sales. Where
(29:25):
I think Global is potentially putting the public in a
position of not having enough accurate information is that they
are not looking at comparing apples to apples in terms
of today's dollars. Of the rent bids in today's dollars,
rent bids from Global is eight hundred and forty five
(29:47):
million in today's dollars, Apple Green is five fifty one.
There is a difference there. We don't dispute that, but
there's a reason that the Commonwealth only had financial performance
as twenty five percent of its scoring criteria because it
had bigger goals, a bigger vision, and they knew they
(30:07):
needed a world class operator to carry out that vision.
That's why they counted experience, they counted sustainability, and they
counted an approach to the plausas design, operations, and maintenance
as much more significant. So I get your point, and
(30:28):
reasonable people can disagree on that, but I'm confident that
we're doing what's best for Massachusetts with our project.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Okay, Bill, thank you very much for the point you
made and the questions that you asked, and thank you
Diana for the answer. We've got to keep rolling here.
We have a quick commercial break. We're going to try
to get to at least four callers. Nicole, Madlin, Mike
and Tracy. Get ready. You're coming up next right after
this break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Were only about seven or eight minutes left here. I'm
going to ask everyone to please be as concise as
you can with your question. Some of you who've waited
quite a while, I'll take you in order. Mike and Quincy.
Mike next on Nice side with Diana for Shota. Go
right ahead.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
Yeah, Hey Dan, Hey Dana, thanks for having me on.
I was looking forward as hearing from someone from Apple Green.
But I think you're just a lobbyist. But thanks for
coming on.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Now hold on, wait a second. She is the representative
of Apple Green. That's a cheap shot. Just a lobbyist.
That's a cheap shot. So improve the question and we're
going to move on. Mike, go ahead. All right.
Speaker 7 (31:38):
Yeah, I just got to say, you know, how do
we know what type of guarantees is Apple Green putting
out there for their investment. The global guys were talking about,
you know, their guarantee and everything, but I haven't heard
that from Apple.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Okay, let's get an answer from Diana. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
I think that what we have done is put together
a reliable, realistic bid based on our past experience. We
have every confidence that we're going to drive it forward.
We have every track record that shows we bring that
to the table. And while I appreciate that the word
guarantee sounds terrific, I think every I has to be
(32:19):
dotted and every tea has to be crossed, and until
you have assigned lease, I'm not going to assume that
anybody's guarantee is ironclad.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Let's
keep growining and kind of go to n Cole and Springfield.
Nicole next on night sagger ahead.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
Good.
Speaker 8 (32:34):
Even as a free point through way frequent traveler, I'm
really impressed by the structure that Apple Green is built.
I was just wondering will they be doing similar structures
in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
We have three unique designs for Massachusetts. They're made specifically
for Massachusetts. They're designed to reflect the different regions coastal, Metro,
and western. So the same quality as what you're seeing
on the New York State Thruway, but very unique to Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
All right, thank you, good, thank you, Nicole. Appreciate your question.
Let me keep rolling here. We've got two quick calls.
I like that, Tracy and Natick. Tracy, you're next one
night side, go ahead.
Speaker 9 (33:17):
Hey Dan, thanks for taking my call. I've been following
this thing for a while. I've read all the Globe
stories and so it feels like a lot of this
it feels like there's a lot of things that don't
pass the sniff test, right, and I know that both sides.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
You're going to have your opinion, but that's not a fact.
Speaker 9 (33:33):
Go ahead, No, No, I just mean I think that
there's a lot of questions that have been Give us.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
A question, you can respond to. Give us a question
she can respond to.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
You will that.
Speaker 9 (33:42):
This is my question. If everybody's doing the right thing,
both sides say we did the right thing. Everybody's doing
the right thing. Miss a billion dollars and thirty five years.
Isn't it worth it to take time to do it
over if the process needs to be rebid or re examined.
It just feels like things are in a rush.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Okay, let's get here. You have you have the question.
I can understand why said you won the contract. You
might you probably don't agree with Tracy, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Well, I really believed in a strong public process. This
was a year long process. The RFP had a pre
qualification stage, an RFP stage. It benefited from multiple third
party analysts who supported Mascot in the review process, et cetera.
And subsequent to that process, thousands of pages of documents
(34:31):
have been released and have been transparently shared with both
bidders and so I actually commend the Commonwealth for their
commitment to transparency, and I'm just really proud of our
bid and the integrity with which we approached it, So
I of course believe that it can stand up to
(34:51):
every last bit of scrutiny that you want to give it.
But any delay is a delay in the commonwealth and
its residents getting better service process, and any delay the
incumbent getting the revenue that they've always gotten without much
improvement for Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
All right, throw enough, Tracy, appreciate your call. I'm just
trying to get everyone in. Let me go next to
Madeleine in Framingham, next to Natick Madeline, You're next on
nice side. Got to be quick with Diana pushuld it
go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (35:20):
By Thank you so much for having me Dan and Diana.
My question. I read an article today in the BBJ
and the Boston Business Journal that talked about the plazas
being gateways to Massachusetts. What's your opinion on this?
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Oh? Absolutely, that's actually how we came into thinking about this,
and I honestly think that's probably how mass dot designed
this RFP process, is that these are places that maybe
people don't give a lot of thought to, but when
they stop there and they have a great experience, it
makes them think great things about Massachusetts, and that's the
kind of partner we want to be in this state
(35:56):
and quite frankly, everywhere we operate.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Thank you, excuse me, Madeline, Thank you, Madeleine. I appreciate
your call. Next up, we're moving fast here, so that's good,
Kelsey and Braintreet. Kelsey, you're next the night's side with
my guests, Diana Shooter, go right ahead.
Speaker 10 (36:15):
Thanks for having me. I heard you guys talk about
this on Wednesday, I think with Eric and so I
just wanted to daft Diana if she maybe wanted to
explain or respond to those alleged conflicts of interest between
Apple Green and Scott Bosworth and all the big partners
that stuff of construction, and if there's anything you guys
are willing to release or talk about publicly to kind
(36:36):
of squash this stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I don't think there were any specifics mentioned on Wednesday night.
I tried to move that conversation away from that.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
That suggestion, and from my perspective, there is not a
single wit of truth to any of those allegations. And
from the only person I can speak to is Apple
Green and our team, and at every step of the
way we acted with integrity because we knew we could.
We have the best company, the best bid, the best experience,
(37:07):
and the best investment for the common wolf of Massachusetts.
And that is what I stake my claim on every
day of the week.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Okay, Kelsey, thank you, We're going to try to get
one more in here. You got to be quick. You
just called Grace.
Speaker 8 (37:20):
Go ahead, Grace and Quincy, Hey, yeah, thank you for
having me.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
I guess my question is this, So on Tuesday or
Wednesday we.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Had Eric from Global on and I'm.
Speaker 9 (37:33):
Just wondering, where is the CEO of Applegrain?
Speaker 10 (37:35):
Why is there representative?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
That's their decision.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I couldn't turn down the yah. I fought for this one.
I really wanted to be here. Honestly, We've got hundreds
of people right now that are like literally laser focused
on getting ready to take over these plazas on January one.
And while we definitely wanted to make sure our side
of the story, it was part of the story. I
(38:03):
volunteer and I ask you one more looking on the
real work.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
All right. Unfortunately, Grace, you called really late. I got
you in, but I'm up against the clock and I
gotta I gotta let you go. I appreciate you your question. Nonetheless, Diana,
thank you very much for your time tonight, and I
hope you feel that you had an opportunity to present
the other.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Point of view if the super Dan. You've been a
wonderful host and conversationalist, and it's been fun. I'm not
sure everybody thinks talking about service plausas is fun, but
I sure do. And it's been a great conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
The reason why I've done this and we've dived into
this issue is all of us, at some point we'll
find ourselves on the Massachusetts Turnpark. We may not have
an economic mistake, and who wins or who loses. You
hope that the decision that has made is the right decision,
but they will come in time when all of us
will have to use one of those restrooms or fill
(38:57):
up with some gas or enjoying me. So if your
success continues, I hope that you do the best job
for all of the citizens of Massachusetts. I appreciate it
guying it. Thank you very much. When we get back,
we're going to change topics and we're going to talk
about to arrests today in two absolutely senseless murders one
(39:21):
in Washington and one in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. We'll be back
right after the ten o'clock news. Here on a Friday
night edition of Nightside
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