Getty Realty Corp. has closed a $260.9 million sale-leaseback deal for 41 convenience stores operated by Refuel Operating Co., instantly making the Charleston-based chain the real estate investment trust's third-largest tenant. The stores span South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas and Mississippi, with seven of them located in Texas, the nation's largest and fastest-growing convenience store market.
A Deal That Reshapes Getty's Tenant Roster
The completed transaction was reported by CStore Decisions on September 24, 2026, before Realty News Report covered it on September 30, 2026. The deal breaks down into 17 stores in South Carolina, 12 in North Carolina, seven in Texas and five in Mississippi. Refuel will continue operating all 41 locations under long-term leases, and the outlet reports the stores average nearly 5,000 square feet on 2.5-acre sites — a footprint built for the hot food programs and quick-service tie-ins that increasingly drive convenience store profits. Refuel was already a tenant at six Getty-owned stores before this deal, according to the same report.
According to CRE 360 Signal, the acquisition now makes Refuel responsible for approximately 7.7% of Getty Realty's annualized base rent, a concentration that underscores how aggressively the REIT has been expanding its convenience-store footprint. Getty funded the purchase using forward equity proceeds, a new unsecured term loan, and proceeds from other property sales, the outlet reports, a structure designed to keep the company's balance-sheet leverage flat even as its tenant base shifts.
Unitary Leases Lock In Long-Term Commitments
Regulatory filings describe how the 41 stores were organized into four state-level unitary triple net leases, each carrying a 20-year initial term with rent escalations scheduled every five years and backed by parent company guarantees from FR Refuel, LLC, per disclosures reviewed by SEC.gov. That structure effectively bundles every store within a state into a single cross-defaulted obligation, meaning Refuel cannot abandon or cherry-pick underperforming locations without risking default across the entire state basket.
Refuel paired the sale-leaseback with a separate refinancing of its corporate debt. The company finalized a new senior secured credit facility led by Citizens Bank, joined by Bank of Montreal, Fifth Third Bank, Pinnacle Bank and Wells Fargo, as reported by CStore Decisions. Refuel leadership indicated the combined moves were meant to balance owned and leased real estate while preserving capital flexibility, according to the same report.
Co-CEOs Travis Smith and Jon Rier characterized the relationship with their new landlord in direct terms, per Realty News Report: “Getty has been a trusted partner to Refuel for several years and Refuel is thrilled to expand the relationship through the transaction.” The companies say the deal creates a more balanced mix of owned and leased real estate for Refuel, improves the efficiency of its capital structure, and frees up capital for investment in stores, staff and long-term growth, Realty News Report reports.
Getty's Buying Spree Keeps Rolling
This single purchase is part of a far larger shopping run for Getty Realty. The REIT disclosed it has deployed roughly $455.2 million into convenience store and automotive retail real estate so far in 2026 at an initial cash yield of 7.1%, while still holding a committed development pipeline exceeding $125 million, according to filings cited by SEC.gov. Getty's portfolio now spans 1,269 properties across 46 states, per Realty News Report, with the company describing itself as a net lease REIT focused on convenience, automotive and other single-tenant retail real estate. Last year, Getty completed a separate $100 million sale-leaseback covering 12 Now & Forever convenience store locations in Houston, the outlet notes.
Refuel's Rapid Rise From Five Stores to 250
Refuel's growth story stretches back to 2008, when the company launched in Charleston. Energy private equity firm First Reserve acquired Refuel in 2019 and expanded it from five Charleston-area locations into a chain of more than 240 stores through a string of acquisitions, according to CSP Daily News. First Reserve later moved its Refuel investment into a continuation fund in 2022 to extend its ownership window, per the same report. Refuel now operates roughly 250 stores under the Refuel and Double Quick banners across the southeastern U.S., Realty News Report reports, and tied for No. 36 on CSP's 2026 list of the nation's top convenience store chains by store count.
The company's current leadership took shape in July 2025, when Co-Presidents Travis Smith and Jon Rier were promoted to Co-CEOs while founder Mark Jordan moved into the role of Chairman of the Board, according to a Refuel Market announcement. Smith and Rier had served as Co-Presidents since January 2024 before stepping into the top roles, the company said.
Why Texas Keeps Pulling in Chains
Texas's pull on convenience store operators is showing up across the industry, not just in this one deal. The state expanded its lead as the nation's largest convenience store market to 16,504 locations in 2026, representing more than 10% of all U.S. convenience stores, according to NACS industry data. Texas added 88 net new stores year-over-year, more than any other state, NACS reports. Nationally, the convenience store industry generated $837.4 billion in total sales in 2024, and fuel-selling convenience locations hit an eight-year high of 122,620 sites in 2026, with convenience stores distributing an estimated 80% of all motor fuel U.S. drivers purchase, per NACS.
Refuel's own Texas footprint has grown through unconventional partnerships as well as acquisitions. Hoodline previously reported on a new Kenedy Whataburger pairing, where Refuel co-located a convenience store with a 3,000-square-foot Whataburger drive-thru on a large site, part of a broader push that includes more than 30 quick-service restaurant brand partnerships across the company's southeastern footprint. Other chains are chasing the same Texas momentum: Realty News Report notes that Casey's General Stores, based in Ankeny, Iowa, is acquiring Pak-A-Sak, a 24-store chain in the Texas Panhandle, while Yesway has opened new Allsup's stores in Odessa and Monahans and now operates more than 250 stores statewide. Yesway's expansion in Texas reflects similar consolidation pressures in the state's convenience-store market.
