CELL TOWER LEASE NEGOTIATIONS

CASE STUDIES

See for yourself how Antenna Management Corp. has helped property owners negotiate profitable lease agreements with cell service providers.

AMC Case Study (1)

What Rent Cell Providers offer and what you can get with the AMC Rent Index.

For over 25 years the cell providers have preferred to obtain easements on the Owner’s property that includes 24 x7 access with no limits on equipment installed. Tower easements can include a Statutory Rights of Way (SROW) registered on title which is the most severe encumbrance that can be put on a property. Building easements often contain unlimited access, free electrical rooms, free access for fiber cable, free use of risers, free use of cable tray space, use of Owner’s electrical system, no Safety Code 6 provisions, and the right to sublease the building to anyone without permission or payment. All for 20+ years.

By renting space under an easement, owners are short changed. A typical 4G lease can gross $3 million in under 5 years. Double or triple if the site is subleased to another carrier. Rents are typically less than 0.5% of gross revenues.

Fair Market Rents all come down to what the site grosses. Most owners think the Antenna Panels that they see are the antennas. Actually, each antenna panel houses many licensed antennas. When carriers refer to “Antennas” they mean the rooftop housings each of which usually contain multiple “Licensed Antennas”. A typical rooftop site may have 12 “Antenna Panels” but contain 70 “Licensed Antennas”.

The AMC Rent Index tracks the “Licensed Antennas” and calculates the revenue each antenna generates for all Licensed Antennas. AMC’s Rent Index is used to increase rents to fair market levels. Many sites have more than one carrier.

Typical results for a single lease:

AMC TAX
YEAR OFFER RENT INDEX DEDUCTION
1 $10,000 $13,800 $1,200
2 $10,000 $14,220 $1,236
3 $10,000 $14,652 $1,274
4 $10,000 $15,097 $1,313
5 $10,000 $15,556 $1,353
6 $10,500 $16,029 $1,394
7 $10,500 $16,516 $1,436
8 $10,500 $17,018 $1,480
9 $10,500 $17,536 $1,525
10 $10,500 $18,069 $1,571
11 $11,025 $18,618 $1,619
12 $11,025 $19,184 $1,668
13 $11,025 $19,767 $1,719
14 $11,025 $20,368 $1,771
15 $11,025 $20,988 $1,825
16 $11,576 $21,626 $1,880
17 $11,576 $22,283 $1,938
18 $11,576 $22,960 $1,997
19 $11,576 $23,658 $2,057
20 $11,576 $24,378 $2,120
TOTALS $215,506 $372,324 $32,376

5G antennas

AMC is currently negotiating 5G Licensed Antennas and adding them to our Rent Index.

5G is expected to carry 90% of all internet and cell traffic by 2025.

5G antennas are mounted at 10 meters and every building with 2 or more stories are a 5G target.

AMC Case Study (2)

REIT CELL LEASES

AMC had an inquiry by a large Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to review it’s cell leases for fair market rent comparisons. Using our Rent Index we were able in two years to improve new, renewal and terminating Agreement rents by 23%.

Additionally, with our knowledge of industry consolidation, we targeted their sites at risk for termination and were able to negotiate a purchase offer of $6 million.

AMC Case Study (3)

WE LOVE FARMERS

AMC loves farmers – they contribute much to Canada. Many of our clients are farmers with large antenna towers on their properties. Most have had the tower for 20 years and the leases are up. They have looked to AMC to provide current Fair market Rents. The majority of leases paid under $4,000 annually and the carrier offered a $1,000 increase with a single cash payment of $5,000 and increases every 5 years of 5% to extend the lease another 20 years. They had comparables.

Reality is that the AMC Rent Index shows that these sites gross $3 million annually for each carrier and many have 2 or 3 carriers. The farmers usually receive only one rent.

By negotiating rents of up to 2% of gross, the farmers are able to receive a fairer return from their lease and often double or triple that from the other carriers subleasing on the site.

The increased rent are often directed into educational funds for their grandchildren.

AMC is proud to help our future generations.

Do you have questions regarding a proposed or existing antenna lease or fibre access agreements?
Would You Like To Know More About Our Consultation And Negotiation Services?
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