Brick Now Owns The Cell Phone Tower Outside Town Hall, Following 1998 Agreement

A co-located cellular communications tower at the municipal complex in Brick Township. (Photo: Shorebeat)

It’s been standing since 1998, and has processed millions of calls from the “Zack Morris phone” era to the AI-powered iPhones and Galaxy models of today – and it now belongs to Brick Township.

When an agreement was signed between Brick and a fledgling company known as Omnipoint Communications, Nokia had just overtaken Motorola with the best-selling mobile device – the 5110, a state-of-the-art phone that came with an 84-by-84 pixel monochrome screen and could be purchased in different color casing. That agreement held that Omnipoint – which after a heap of mergers became known as today’s T-Mobile – would build a co-located cellular communications tower at town hall. Being co-located meant that while the tower was owned by one company, any provider could place their own antenna arrays on the structure and pay a lease fee to the owner. Brick received $1,200 per month for the use of its land, a 4 percent increase in rent per year, plus 40 percent of whatever profits the tower brought in from other providers subletting space.

A co-located cellular communications tower at the municipal complex in Brick Township. (Photo: Shorebeat)

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When the lease of the tower came to an end in 2023, township officials had a decision to make. They could take ownership, lease the entire tower out to a new provider, or demolish it so a new tower could be constructed. They chose to take ownership of the structure, and the legal transfer was completed last month by way of a signed agreement with Omnipoint, which remains in existence as a corporate entity. Under the finalization of the agreement, T-Mobile “sold” the tower to Brick for $1, and they will continue to simply lease space. The tower is managed by communications specialists within the Brick Township Police Department.

T-Mobile’s array will continue to provide service, now joined by two other firms, said Joanne Bergin, the township’s business administrator. Verizon and Dish Home Network Service both lease space on the tower. T-Mobile’s array dates back to the original 1998 agreement, while Verizon antennas first appeared in 2008 and Dish in 2022.

The township maintains its own emergency communications tower adjacent to the commercial tower.