Who knew space on a water-storage tank could be such big business?
That realization became clear Thursday night when the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a letter of intent from a company called TowerPoint to acquire a telecommunications easement at the city’s tank property on Rockford Street.
And the price: $1,681,565.
“That’s a lot of money,” the board’s Marie Wood remarked when eyeing the proposal, given that previous deals for tank space to locate cellular telephone equipment have been limited to thousands of dollars and not $1 million-plus.
“It is,” Mayor Jon Cawley agreed regarding the sum associated with TowerPoint’s interest in the wireless site.
TowerPoint is a telecommunications infrastructure and real estate investment company based in Atlanta which acquires, develops and manages what it calls “premium digital infrastructure assets throughout North America.”
In Mount Airy’s case, it seeks not only to acquire the easement for the Rockford Street water tank but take over existing contracts the municipality has with two other companies, AT & T and T-Mobile, to have antennas and associated implements placed there.
The consideration of the letter of intent from TowerPoint was a late agenda addition for Thursday night’s council meeting, one requiring quick action.
City Manager Stan Farmer explained that the company’s $1.6 million offer was set to expire on Friday.
The approval of the letter of intent Thursday night will lock in that price for 30 days, during which Farmer and City Attorney Hugh Campbell will prepare a contract formalizing the arrangement to bring before the commissioners.
“And we will discuss it more completely after the letter of intent is turned into a contract, if we need to,” the mayor said.
The commissioners wasted no time in registering their unanimous vote to put that in motion.
The initial proposal calls for the term length of the easement to be 70 years, recognizing the continued growth anticipated by the cellular telephone industry and the need to maintain infrastructure supporting that.
TowerPoint documents indicate that new rental revenues would be generated from tenants collocating on available space across a rooftop outside the present lease area.
Documents state that the new tenant rent would amount to 60 % in favor of the landlord (the city government).
AT & T and T-Mobile are now paying monthly charges of $4,862 and 3,216, respectively, based on previous reports.
Telecommunications companies tend to seek out existing tall facilities such as the municipal water tank for antenna placements.
This avoids the costs of acquiring their own sites to erect cell towers along with potential regulatory and other hurdles including neighborhood opposition.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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