BOSTON - The 11 gas stations along the Massachusetts Turnpike are worth at least $8.2 million per year to Gulf Oil, which is re-upping its leases to sell fuel at the service plazas along Interstate 90.
The nine-year lease, which includes annual increases and totals a projected $84.2 million, will expire in 2025, coinciding with the end of the lease McDonalds holds to sell food and other retail products along the interstate.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation on Monday agreed to authorize Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack to make the deal.
Mark Boyle, who handles real estate for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said there has been an industry-wide move to put one vendor in charge of food and fuel at rest stops where motorists can stop to eat, fill up and use restrooms. While food offerings on the Pike include Honey Dew, Papa Gino's and Dunkin Donuts, according to MassDOT's website, Boyle said McDonald's is the overall lease-holder.
Gulf currently holds the lease for the rest stops and beat out four bidders to continue selling gas there. The gas company has 15 years of experience on the Pike, Boyle said. He said Gulf would also upgrade its fuel pumps.
The guaranteed minimum annual rent in the new deal is $1.7 million more than the current $6.4 million per year deal, which expires Dec. 31, according to Boyle's presentation.
MassDOT has a chance to collect more than the minimum rent, taking 17 cents on every gallon of gas sold at the service plaza, Boyle said. Another part of the deal requires Gulf to pay the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism $200,000 for marketing and fundraising.
At a committee meeting before the full MassDOT meeting, board member Steven Poftak said he was "uncomfortable with the cross-subsidy idea" of the payment to the tourism agency.
Boyle said he is working to add electric-car charging stations at six out of the 11 stops stretching from Natick to Lee.
Dominic Blue, a member of the MassDOT Board of Directors, questioned whether the conversion to all-electronic tolling would reduce the premium drivers are willing to pay for gas along Interstate 90. Blue pointed out that the removal of toll plazas at on- and off-ramps would make it easier for drivers to hop off the Turnpike to seek out better deals on gas.
"We could do some research on that," Boyle said. Boyle told the News Service that gas stations on the Turnpike "have to charge market rates" for gas but are "slightly" at the higher rate.