Municipalities and public entities
Water tanks and public buildings often carry antennas.
The transaction
Here is what changes, and what does not.
- What your entity sells
- Your entity sells the lease and the income it produces, together with an easement over the tank, the structure, or the ground the equipment occupies. The easement is what allows us to continue granting the tenant its rights under the lease. The rest of the property and its public use are unaffected.
- What your entity keeps
- Your entity continues to hold title to the property, and nothing changes on site. The tenant keeps operating under the same agreement it has today.
- How you are paid
- The purchase price is paid in immediately available funds at closing. Where it suits your budget or tax position, the proceeds can instead be structured as a series of payments. A recurring lease payment becomes a one-time receipt that can be budgeted for a specific purpose.
Your approval process
We work within the way a public body decides.
Public property moves on a schedule set by meetings and notice periods, so we start by asking what yours requires.
- We expect that a council, commission, or board will need to approve the sale in a public meeting, and we build that into the schedule rather than around it.
- Where your rules require an appraisal, a published notice, or a particular form of approval, we work within them and provide whatever your staff and counsel need to prepare the item.
- We prepare the offer and the supporting documents so that they can go directly into an agenda packet. We will work with your council, commission, or board in whatever way suits it best.
Can a public entity sell a lease interest like this?
In most cases yes, under the entity’s authority to dispose of property interests. The specific requirements depend on the type of entity and on state law. Your counsel will know the process, and we will work within it.
Our rules require a formal process before we can sell. Does that work?
Some entities are required to follow one, and some are not. Tell us what your rules require and we will structure the offer so that it fits the process rather than asking the process to bend.
How does the payment show up in our budget?
As a one-time receipt rather than an annual lease revenue line. Many entities earmark it for a capital item, though how it is treated is a decision for your finance staff.
What if the antennas are ever removed?
The purchase is a sale rather than a loan, so we have no claim against you if the rent later falls or the tenant leaves. If the tenant were ever to take its equipment down, your entity would keep the full purchase price and would owe us nothing.
