WARNING: THIS IS INSIDER INFORMATION THAT CELL TOWER COMPANIES DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW
The cell tower companies have and continue to have the upper-hand when negotiating either new cell site leases with property owners, or when they seek to amend existing leases by extending the existing lease term, requesting consent for modifications to the cell tower or adding additional space. Why do they have the upper-hand?
They have access to information that property owners do not and, for years, they have done everything to limit a property owner’s access to this information because they know that if it were available, a property owner would be able to not only understand what they are being offered by a cell tower company, but, more importantly, understand what they are offering the cell tower company by either granting them a new lease or modifying an existing one.
Cell tower companies will not only use the inequity in resources to limit what they initially pay property owners for the use of their land, but to sometimes later come back and get property owners to reduce their current rents by implying that if a property owner does not reduce the rent, the cell tower company will relocate their cell tower to another property.
How are they able to get away with this? The cell tower company has information about the true value of the cell tower site, the real alternatives in the immediate area and the costs and restrictions that exist for the cell tower company to relocate. The property owner does not have this information available to them. Vertical Consultants has access to information related to over 250,000 cell sites across the United States. These cell sites include ground leases, rooftop sites, water tower and utility sites and even sites on billboard and other structures.
When we are providing advice to our clients, we are not simply guessing what a company like Verizon or AT&T would pay to lease a property, or what terms Crown Castle would agree to when it comes to a lease extension, or even what the likelihood of American Tower or SBA being able to terminate their existing lease and relocate to another property.
Simply stated, the information that Vertical Consultants has access to is exactly what a cell tower company does not what property owners to know when negotiating a new lease or re-negotiating an existing one.
Vertical Consultants’ database also provides us the ability to not only view a property/cell site close-up, but also from a birds-eye view that displays other cell sites in the immediate area that can be reviewed to determine how a property/cell site stacks up and to determine if those sites are viable alternatives/relocation sites for a cell tower company that may be threatening the termination of a property owner’s cell tower lease.
In addition, Vertical Consultants’ database allows us to not only view what cell tower/sites exist around a client’s property, but also allows us to view the wireless carriers’ (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint) networks (including recent 5G buildouts) in the immediate area surrounding a proposed new cell tower site or an existing one. This can provide additional insight that allows us and our clients to determine what the property offers both the cell tower company leasing their land and the wireless carriers located on that tower.
Vertical Consultants’ cell tower database provides our clients access to the following information, not only in regard to their property/tower, but to others in the immediate area:
- Cell Tower Owner/Site Identification #
- Cell Tower/Cell Site Type
- Current Anchor/Primary Wireless Carrier located on the tower
- Subtenants located on the tower
- Base/Ground Rent being paid by tower company
- Subtenant Rent being paid to tower company
- Size of leased area (compound area)
- Height of tower
- Location of cell tower (including lat/long coordinates)
- Ground elevation
- Tower construction date
- Wireless networks (including 5G) in area
Vertical Consultants not only has access to the information listed above, but also to additional information related to a particular cell tower site, including certain local standards/restrictions in the area that are crucial in determining what the real value of a property is to a company looking to lease it. Contact us today to learn more about not only the information we have available, but how we can use that information to make sure you get the best overall cell tower agreement possible. Remember, the cell tower companies have experts (and information) on their side, shouldn’t you?
