Town considering selling cell tower

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BEACON FALLS — The town is looking into selling a cell tower it owns on Lopus Road near the town garage.

Currently, several companies rent space on the town-owned tower, but those companies may be merging and have made inquiries into purchasing the tower.

At a special meeting Aug. 31, the Board of Selectman hired Steve Kelleher of KJS Reality Inc. as a consultant to represent the town in the matter. If the town decides to sell the tower, Kelleher would earn a 3 percent fee, which is very minor compared to what the town hopes to gain in the sale, First Selectman Susan Cable said.

“He’s going to act as a broker and attempt to sell that cell tower,” Selectman Michael Krenesky said.

Currently, the town pays a management company to manage the tower and the town earns about $1,500 a month in rent, according to Krenesky.

If the deal went through, the town would still collect rent on the land, but another company would own the tower itself. The company would then pay taxes on the tower and equipment.

“It looks at this point that it would be more advantageous financially for us,” Cable said.

2 COMMENTS

  1. The meeting minutes for the Aug 31st meeting are posted on the Town Website under Bd of Selectman Minutes. Detail missing from the minutes but identified as “Discussion”, is that the 1st Selectman suggested that the sale price could be $500,000 to $1,000,000. Based on those numbers, I supported selecting a consultant as noted in the minutes & news article.

    I have several questions related to this proposal and will address my concerns at our regular monthly meeting on Monday Sept 12th.

  2. perhaps our leaders missed this :
    “WASHINGTON — The Justice Department filed suit Wednesday to block AT&T’s $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA on grounds that it would raise prices for consumers.

    “The government contends that the acquisition of the No. 4 wireless carrier in the country by No. 2 AT&T would reduce competition and thus lead to price increases.”

    It would also be nice if the article mentioned a ballpark value of the tower (and the land) so that readers could be informed as to whether $1500 / month is good for the town or not.