Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by KIM CASWELL on October 31, 2013 at 4:22

How can a property owner encourage a cell tower company to look at their land?

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on October 31, 2013 at 12:16

Tony,

Leasing land for a cell phon tower can be very lucrative, but I strongly suggest you hire an attorney to handle the contract, preferably one with experience with them. The agreeements used for cell phone tower leases can be stunningly complex, and covering your bases will more than justify the legal fees in very short order. Best of luck!

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Permalink Reply by tony allen on October 31, 2013 at 13:45

Thank you, Andrew . I appreciate your response and I will definitely get an attorney involved.

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Permalink Reply by KIM CASWELL on November 2, 2013 at 8:12

Tony how were you approached. I've tried to get a tower lease. Do they scout an area? I'm in desotoparish. What company are you negotiating with if you don't mind me asking.

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Permalink Reply by lee on November 4, 2013 at 3:54

Tony, if you don't sign it, your neighbor will, you will still have to look at it and he will get paid.

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Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on November 4, 2013 at 9:43

Kim:

Companies generally come to you, based upon coverage and areas that can be served by existing towers and infrastructure.  They usually try to cover the most area with the least amount of towers, so their acquisition specs are usually fairly tight, which is why the number of people that are contacted for any given installation is so small.

 

As has been mentioned by other posters here, having high ground can be a plus, if for no other reason for longer and better "line of sight" transmission quality.  However, if the area where the "high ground" is located is already covered by long term leases, that in itself would not make the area attractive for a new tower.

 

Being in a remote area can be a plus or a minus - if a carrier wants to expand coverage or "fill holes", having a good location that fits their criteria with good surface access and onsite or nearby utilities can be a great fit - or, if the carrier has made its "best effort" rollout within a market, or there are just not enough subscribers to their network either physically located or that passes into or through a certain area with poor coverage, good luck getting a new tower.

 

Much of what the companies consider to be priorities are not going to be readily available to the individual landowner, which is why marketing your particular property for a possible tower site location is not liable to draw any substantial hits.  It is a much more stringent set of conditions to be met than say, prospecting one's property for a billboard location (where predominantly, sites along major roads or sufficiently high traffic counts is the driving factor).  It's not quite as stringent as the old microwave tower sites (where distance, elevation, line of sight and straight-routing conditions all had to be met), but it's close.  If your tract is a location that someone wants, they will come to you.  The companies typically acquire what they need, where they need, as they need it, and generally don't look for "spares" that they "might" build - they are more likely to hold on to existing sites with installations for future use or that they may decommission later.

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Permalink Reply by fred on November 4, 2013 at 7:34

I got contacted by one of the big tower companies (a representative who will sell or lease to one of the big companies -- very hush hush about whom) and they offered only $300 per month. This was about a year ago in Bienville Parish. Like oil and gas leases, be very careful about what you sign. The boiler plate lease has language that states the landowner will maintain a road to the site and the tower company can remove the tower if no longer in use but is not required to remove the tower. That means you get no monthly check and you have his multi-million dollar tower on your property. They also only want to pay you for the fenced in area where the tower is, this may be only 300 by 300 feet but their cables that support the tower extend much further. I calculated they were really taking about 4 acres of my land but they calculate that they are taking less than an acre. I responded by saying we would do the deal for $3,000 per month and my attorney would work on their boiler plate lease. I never heard back from them. Just as well. I have heard stories about people who have escalator clauses on their lease rate after 5 years who get contacted by the tower companies that pressure the landowner to actually reduce their rates, stating that the industry is consolidating to a fewer number of towers and if they don't take a lesser rate, they will shut their tower down and get no rent.

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Permalink Reply by Ron on November 4, 2013 at 8:19

AT&T just released a galvanized stand alone tower(no guy lines) in Alexandria near Mall for $2000 a month.

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Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on November 4, 2013 at 11:03

Through the past several years AT&T has placed three different fiberoptic lines down Shamrock St in Pineville that connect to a tower behind Foster Construction/Paul Davis Restorations. One of the main Cleco power lines comes down Shamrock and feeds Baker Manufacturing and Colfax Creosote and a bunch of houses. The line has only went down for about 12 hours in my memory and that was last Easter. They may turn it off for an hour or so when a hurricane or bad storm comes through but that is very seldom, when they are working on downed lines. When the power went out you could hear the generator for the tower come own. This tower must be one of the main ones. It is probably only about a mile, as the crow flies from the main AT&T connections and computers in downtown Alexandria by the Rapides Parish Courthouse

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Permalink Reply by James Howell on November 4, 2013 at 9:26

Has anyone tried doing this with a lease acquisition company? Lease Advisors is an office I found here in Ohio and I am interested in getting a cell tower lease through them. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by William C. Morrison on November 4, 2013 at 10:12

We got $500 a month for our cell phone tower lease.  The tower is on a piece of  land that is not arable (good for us) but is also convenient to source of power and land connects to the phone lines.  It is not all bulls eye, other things like access, available power, etc. come in to play. 

Shortly after we leased, Katrina blew in and we had to wait a year for them to catch up.  They had to rebuild what Katrina took out first.  Then we has some fly by night outfit offer us a lump sum amount that was about 25% of the amount we would get over time.  Since we are a family corporation, we did not have the greed factor and we elected to collect annually.

Over the years our family has been agreeable to rights of ways for pipelines, railroads, railroad passing tracks and so on.  That has made us the people to come to for those kinds of things.  So we have benefited based on the principle that we should do the right thing for the community.  It has always paid off for us.

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Permalink Reply by Eric S Lord on November 6, 2013 at 8:10

I own a cell tower lease in Chambers Co TX near I-10.  I purchased the lease along with a larger property and business.  The original lease was for 30 yrs at $500 mo. with a 10 percent escallation every five years.  Unfortunately this is not a particularly good deal.  The current going rate and value should be  @1500 mo for one company array and should include a clause granting you shared profits of any additional customers who place equipment on the tower. 

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