Brick officials on Tuesday night unanimously approved a new agreement that will maintain revenue generation at the municipal complex property via a cellular communications tower space that was first utilized in 1998.
Far from carrying 2G signals to Nokia 5110s – the most popular device that year – the tower will continue carrying calls, texts and high-speed data across town on the popular devices of 2023 and well beyond. Following a series of extensions – mixed in between corporate mergers and the evolution of mobile phones from business devices to must-have daily accessories – two companies, Verizon and T-Mobile, ended up becoming the primary occupants of space on the tower. After reviewing options with the wireless consulting firm FSD Enterprises, Brick has reached a new agreement with the two providers on a new, long-term lease for the property at town hall, located behind the visitor parking lot.
Under the new agreement, approved Tuesday, Cellco Partnership – a corporate entity that manages Verizon’s wireless equipment – will co-lease the tower with T-Mobile Northeast LLC. Cellco Partnership (Verizon) will pay annual rent of $44,024 for five years to least a spot on the tower and a ground station, while T-Mobile will pay $44,000 even each year for five years.
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The five-year lease agreement will be automatically renewed for four additional five-year terms unless either provider provides written notice to withdraw from the agreement within six months of one of those terms coming to an end.
A co-located cellular communications tower at the municipal complex in Brick Township. (Photo: Shorebeat)
The rent for each term will rise by 2.75 percent via an escalator clause in the contract, or the inflation amount of the “personal consumption expenditure price index,” whichever is higher.
Under the previous agreement left over from the last millennium, Brick received $1,200 per month for the use of its land, a 4 percent increase in rent per year, and 40 percent of whatever profits the tower brought in from other providers subletting space. Under this contract, notably, each provider is being charged with its own rent price and escalator clause.
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