The Anna Maria Island Community Center may have a way to honor its “burn the mortgage” slogan and generate some much-needed revenue for the center.
Allowing a cell tower on the property could generate as much as $72,000 in annual revenue, if not more, and the center could receive a payment of $150,000 when the cell tower begins sending carrier signals.
Two companies met with the center’s ad hoc communications committee April 8, and one company proposed the center a lump sum payment of $150,000 the day the cell tower becomes operational.
Ridan Industries of Tampa, in partnership with Alpha-Omega Communications of Longboat Key, made the offer if the center contracts with Ridan to build a tower on center property.
Kevin Barile of Ridan said that, in addition to the $150,000, the company would pay the center $1,000 a month to lease the required space, or 20 percent of the monthly gross revenues, whichever is greater.
James Eatrides of Alpha-Omega estimated it would take 12-18 months after signing a contract for the cell tower to be constructed and operational. When carriers begin using the tower, the $150,000 would be paid.
The proposed 150-foot tower would look like a flag pole and be able to handle six cell phone carriers and equipment. The goal would be four carriers on the tower, Eatrides said.
Barile said he and Eatrides would not profit until a third carrier is added.
“We are the last ones to make any money. We want this to be a win, win, win, win situation for the community, the center, the carriers and us,” Barile said.
Attorney Stacey Frank, who owns a home in Anna Maria, also presented a proposal to the committee.
She formed F&L Towers LLC several years ago as she sought to move away from corporate law. Frank turned to the wireless communications industry and the move has been a wise one.
“I’ve probably written more than 1,000 leases on cell towers,” she said.
Her proposal for the center was based upon revenue sharing, a straight lease or a combination of the two.
F&L Towers leases space from a property owner such as the community center, builds a tower, then seeks carriers to fill the available spaces on the tower, she said.
Frank’s company has a cell tower contract with the Hillsborough County School District. Those towers generated $316,000 last year for the district, based on 11 cell towers at various schools.
Frank estimated a cell tower at the center with just one carrier would generate a minimum of $1,200 per month for the center, based upon a 50 percent split of the gross revenues.
Her goal would be to have four to six carriers operating from the tower.
“The average carrier pays $24,000 a year to use a cell tower,” she said.
With six carriers operating, “that’s a significant source of revenue for the center,” Frank said.
Additionally, “escalators” could be written into the lease to increase the center’s share as carriers generate more revenue.
“I design all the poles from the front end to handle the future. You have a good opportunity on your property and a good location” for a tower, Frank said.
As a good faith gesture, Frank would provide a $25,000 deposit if the center signs a contract with her company.
Committee members will present a report to the center’s executive committee for discussion.
Several years ago, the board considered a cell tower offer, but major donors responded that if a cell tower were built at the center, their donations would dry up.
In current economic hard times, however, the non-profit center faces some financial difficulties.
Because of the mortgage on the $4.5 million center facility that opened in 2007, fees at the center were increased. Some area residents on fixed incomes have said they could no longer afford to use the center. The new facility was originally estimated to cost about $3 million.
A revenue stream of $72,000 a year, or a lump sum of $150,000 plus a percentage of the monthly gross might go a long way toward solving the center’s financial issues, one board member indicated, including burning the mortgage.
Just a few questions
(i) Do you have any idea why a company would pay about $ 70,000 per year to rent an empty airy space on a light pole of the AMI Community Center? Just to install a “meaningless” small metal piece? I mean $ 70,000 would let you rent a beautiful home on AMI for more than a year. And additionally, the company would pay for all the installations, for the power lines and for the power house feeding the metal piece with lots of energy. And finally it would even pay for giving the whole technical assembly a nice look. Some disguise which resembles to something like a palm tree or so and not to just a simple metal peace on a light pole. And why should there be any disguise at all? Are you afraid of looking at it every day?
I have no clue to these questions. May be I have to ask the shareholders of the company, because they will probably acclaim to the investment and they will profit of it!
(ii) Have you ever heard of “femtocells” or “picocells”? May be these devices are the only reasonable solution to the so-called miserable cell phone connections on the northern part of the Island. “Femto” means a millionth part of a billionth and “pico” means a thousandth part of a billionth. So “femto” – as a millionth part of a millionth of a thousandth – is pretty small indeed. And the “femto” in the “cell” is meant as a minimal part of what? It is meant as a minimal part of the “normal” energy output of a “normal” cell tower. On the basis of these numbers you may imagine why no reasonable human being wants to reside close to an active cell tower. You are irradiated pretty stongly there with pulsed microwave radiation,24/7 all year round.