Old Water Tower Finds New Life—as a Moneymaker for Eagan

It may not be storing water for public use anymore, but the venerable Sperry Water Tower in Eagan has a new lease on life—thanks to cell phone companies leasing space on the tower for antenna arrays.

The 100-foot-tall tower, located north of Central Park, was built in 1966 and held 500,000 gallons of water in its heyday. But city officials decommissioned the tower six years ago, after improvements to Eagan's northern water treatment plant made the tower obsolete.

Enter seven telecommunications carriers, who have each installed cell phone arrays on the water tower through lease agreements with the city. Thanks to the lease agreements for the Sperry water tower alone, the city made $130,657 in revenue in 2011.

That's more than enough money to offset the relatively minimal maintenance costs incurred by the tower. City Engineer Russ Matthys estimates the city will spend $550,000 over 20 years—or roughly $27,500 each year—in painting and decommissioning costs.

The water tower just happens to be in the right topographic location for the telecommunications companies, who are very specific about the placement of their cell phone arrays, Matthys said.

Using water towers is a cheaper and easier option for cell phone companies than securing easements and constructing their own arrays, Matthys said.

While cell phone companies leasing space on the side of a water tower for antennae is common, Matthys does not know of any other cities in the area who are using decommissioned water towers solely as an impromptu cell phone tower.

All total, Matthys said, 10 telecommunications carriers lease space on the sides of Eagan's water towers. Those carriers pay the city a total of $803,335 in 2011. That money goes into the city's public utilities enterprise fund for a variety of purposes, Matthys said.

In addition to Sperry water tower support cell phone arrays, the tower also plays host to the city and county's 800 MHz radio system.

"It’s a value for us and our system,” Matthys said. "It’s all about location, location, location and coverage for the individual cell phone folks."