Cell Tower Leasing for Commercial Landlords, Developers and Real Estate Investors

Understand the terms of your cell tower lease and avoid provisions which harm property values and the future use of the property.

This program provides commercial landlords, developers, investors, units of government and all property owners with the A to Z basics of cell tower leases and lease sales and is taught by two faculty members with decades of experience representing property owners on cell tower leases and sales. This program covers entering into a lease, renewing a lease and selling a lease while emphasizing rents, sales prices, terms and avoiding provisions which harm property values and the future use of the property. This material will help property owners and attorneys who only occasionally deal with cell leases be better able to negotiate with wireless industry personnel who work on leases every day. 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, the rent increases possible at renewals, avoiding clauses that interfere with the normal use of the property, and why 5G service should have little impact on the preceding. Why leases for rooftop and side-mounted building antenna sites are more complicated, requiring special provisions, is then addressed. After covering more conventional lease terms the program addresses the sale of cell leases and future leasing rights. This includes typical sale prices (often around 200 times monthly rents); when to sell and when not to sell; and how to get the best price and terms in a sale. An emphasis is avoiding sales terms which the presenters have seen destroy a property's value by preventing its normal use and development. For municipalities, the program addresses additional key items in cell leases and lease sales that are unique to them. For all wireless landlords, the program covers such topics as lease term and terminations, access requirements, radio frequency interference, design and camouflage, and radio frequency emissions safety. This program is particularly important for commercial landlords, developers and the like, who often own very attractive sites for cell leases, but are most at risk from poor lease or sales terms harming the value of the property with the lease.

Faculty

John W. Pestle, Esq.

Varnum LLP

Jonathan L. Kramer, Esq.

Telecom Law Firm, P.C.