Cell Tower Leasing and Sales

This program provides municipalities (and all property owners) with the basics – – A to Z – –  of cell tower leases on city property, such as a park, police station or city hall.  It covers the impact of 5G service, which will require tens of thousands more cell sites, including describing 5G, why it will be rolled out slowly and why it may have little impact on lease rates or sales prices.  It is presented by two attorneys with decades of experience representing municipalities 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 (often 15 to 20 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 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.

Speaker: John Pestle & Jonathan Kramer