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I was going to post this on that other forum.. but I know sirhc is on a lot of water towers so maybe you can chime in too?

I serve a dense area in a small footprint, and I finally have the city ready to work with me getting on the water tower, the problem is, "they/the city manager/attorney" think the spot is worth $1,200 to $3,000 a month. (FYI the city is small, we only have 1 water tower, pop around 10k)

Sprint and Nextel were both on the water tower separately, but they have since merged and left the upper mounts empty. So there is a full cell mount open, with nobody using it, they even have a nice big building that is vacant.
ATT/US Cellular/Verizon and Sprint already have towers in this city, I do not see anyone else coming in to pay that price. (T-mobile maybe? doubt it)

After months and months of me pestering them, they finally got back to me today with some better news. They still want $1,200/m to lock in a secure lease.. BUT...
They will lease space to me at a discounted rate ($300-$600/m), as currently it is empty, and any money is better than no money. The only terms they state is that at some point if a big player comes in and offers them what they are asking ($1,200 or more) I will be forced to vacate the water tower.

I asked if that were to happen, before I vacate, would I then have the option to commit to their asking price. His response was, "Yes, You would have the option to match their offer". aka they start the bidding war, and I get forced to bid against a large carrier?!


Thoughts? I had a few ideas.

I really want the water tower, their discounted rate would allow me to get on now, and grow my coverage area, get that tower operating in the $green. Maybe after a year, or two, I could go back to them, and cave in to their asking price, or close to it, in order to secure my place so I can sleep at night and not worry about getting the boot? But, do I really want to pay $1,200/m? or even $1k/m? Maybe in two years, if they see that nobody has inquired about it, they would accept a reasonable offer from me, to lock in my price and remove the language about me having to vacate to a higher offer..


Or, do I just roll the dice, and take the cheap rate as long as I can. I personally doubt nobody else will come in and offer a high price for it, but, what do i know.. It has been only half leased for about a year now, with nobody else asking besides me.

Yea, townships get a taste of that cellar money and they get spoiled. I am having a couple issues with Akron Borough on an existing tanks.

I would NEVER sign a lease that does not lock you in for at least 5 preferably 10 years as you will have contracts with your customers that you are liable for.

Try offering them a starting monthly rate say $600 that goes up each year so much so that at the end of 10 years you are at $1,000 to $1,200 per month that way you can build your customer base to pay the high tank rent.

Seems like they already started caving - they went from a NO to a OK, UNTIL SOMETHING BETTER COMES ALONG.

I would offer them $500 WITH a 5 year term + 2 renewals. Let them sit for a while, they will come back to you with some kind of counter offer, then just tell them that your offer is final but that you will add a 5% annual increase. Then let them sit some more...

The art of negotiating is all about patience :)

Hum - sorry about the double post, not sure how I pulled this off :(

You might sweeten the pot, by throwing in some Internet service to them?

The problem you have, by what you are stating is that a year from now, the city could come back and demand the higher fee?
The other problem is that the cell fees are going to continue to climb. Might be $1500 now, but in a few years it will be $3000.

If you can't get a good contract for say 5-10 years at a rate you can live with, WALK AWAY !

Might be better to build your own tower?

wtm wrote:Might be better to build your own tower?

Except you might be dealing with the same monopoly to get your permit/variance to erect a tower.

How tall is the water tower? Generally speaking, you have 50' AGL before you need a permit, and also generally speaking if you want under <=75' it's very hard to be denied when filing for a permit. Local ordinances that block this have to be extremely specific in their justification for denials.

If the water tower is on flat land, then it is likely to be around 200 feet tall. Water pressure is .43 PSI per foot so a 200 foot tower provides 86 PSI. UPC dictates over 80 PSI needs a PRV so some municipalities may try to stay below that.

Getting a permit inside city limits for a tower that tall can be a daunting task. The NIMBY folks that want 5 bars on their phones but don't want to see towers made it so.

Update:

I finally received a contract from the city on this water tower. The originally wanted $1,200/m for a full cell sector cluster.

Their new offer is starting at $400/m and going up $100/m per year for a 5 year contract, ending at $800/m for the 5th year. This is after I offered to give them a free wifi hotspot by our downtown/lake front area, which is where some weddings are held, meetings, the 4th of July fireworks, and the carnival etc. Nothing huge, probably cover it with 4 APs, which would all feed back to the water tower.

My WISP is about 2 years old now, I believe I should be doing better each year from here out, we are doing great now. I also get full access to an old cell phone sector mount, so 9 full poles, I also plan to have fiber brought to this tower.

Sounds like a fair deal!