Cell Tower Leasing and Sales
This program provides municipalities (and all property owners) with the basics of leasing land for a cell tower or space on a building (or other structure) for cell antennas. It describes 5G service, why it is being rolled out slowly and why it has little impact on cell lease rental rates or the sales price for cell leases. It is presented by two attorneys with decades of experience representing municipalities and other property owners on cell leases. The program starts by covering key business issues in cell site leases, including lease rates, who gets the revenues from additional antennas or carriers being co-located at a site, and the major rent increases possible at renewals. It then shifts to avoiding lease terms which can prevent a landlord’s use or development of the property with the lease, and adding lease terms which help preserve these rights. After covering some more conventional lease terms the program addresses the sale of cell leases and future leasing rights. This includes typical sale prices (currently around 19 times annual revenues); when to sell and when it is not advisable to sell; how to get the best price and terms in a sale; and again avoiding provisions that restrict the development or use of the property. On both cell leases and the sale of leases the program addresses key items that are unique to municipalities. More generally, the program covers such topics as lease term and terminations, access requirements, radio frequency interference, design and camouflage, and radio frequency emissions safety.
Speakers: John Pestle & Jonathan Kramer