About Us

Communications Real Estate, Inc. (“CREI”) was incorporated in 1993 by John M. Rowe in Denver, Colorado after 11 years of experience developing telecom/wireless facilities including microwave, cellular, and switching center sites for companies such as MCI Communications, Verizon Wireless (formerly US West New Vector Group and PacTel Mobile Systems), Hughes Communications Satellite Services, Inc., and Ram Mobile Data/Bell South Enterprises. Rowe had also received MCI’s “Excellence in Service” in 1981 for outstanding contributions to the company and its customers (specifically fast-track, quality-controlled site acquisition, and permit procurement along with the recruiting, hiring, training, and managing staff of nationwide site acquisition efforts.

John, as CREI, continued providing fast-track, quality-controlled site acquisition and zoning procurement services for Nextel Communications (formerly OneComm & CenCall) and T-Mobile (formerly Voicestream/APT) for Kansas City including the initial 35 ESMR sites (1994-5) and the first 59 PCS sites (1995-6), as well as preparation for the first 50 sites for the T-Mobile predecessor for Salt Lake City (the 3rd PCS system in the US to go live). These projects involved the self-performance of site development services as well as the recruiting hiring, training, and management of site development teams. John and CREI incorporated Telecom Birddogs, LLC in July 2001.

John Rowe’s record of managing fast-track, quality-controlled projects in this field extended at increasing levels of proficiency and professionalism through 2014. In 2017, John self-published “Firmly Anchored in Midair, The Handbook of Wireless Site Acquisition and Permitting” through Telecom Birddogs, LLC, a training extension of CREI.

This site is an ongoing effort to offer and improve professional education and other services to the wireless infrastructure development industry.

Raising Communications Site Acquisition and Permitting Standards for Four Decades

[hb_flip_box flip_direction=”vertical” front_background_color=”#a35c20″ back_background_color=”#5e3304″ button_target=”yes” button_color=”midnight-blue” front_title=”Firmly Anchored in Midair: The Handbook of Wireless Site Acquisition and Permitting” back_desc=”The definitive guide to wireless facility site search, due diligence, site selection, project development, space rights, and local permit rights … and then some.” button_text=”Learn More” button_url=”https://FirmlyAnchoredinMidair.com” back_desc_color=”#ffffff” front_title_color=”#ffffff” icon=”hb-moon-bars” class=”.hb-flipbox-content”]

[hb_flip_box flip_direction=”vertical” front_background_color=”#a35c20″ back_background_color=”#5e3304″ button_color=”midnight-blue” front_title=”Educating, Training, Coaching, Mentoring, and Managing” back_desc=”Conveying knowledge and intelligence, developing skills and techniques, providing encouragement and support, guiding learning and discovery, and directing time and resources during project initiation, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing of the wireless facility development project management cycle.” button_text=”Learn More” button_url=”http://telecombirddogs.com/contact-us” back_desc_color=”#ffffff” front_title_color=”#ffffff” icon=”icon-th-large” class=”.hb-flipbox-content”]

[hb_flip_box flip_direction=”vertical” front_background_color=”#a35c20″ icon_type=”image” back_background_color=”#5e3304″ front_title=”The Steward” back_desc=”John M. Rowe licensed real estate broker for thirty years has located, acquired, and secured permits to build and operate antenna sites for telecommunications, as well as recruited, hired, trained, and managed others to do the same throughout the US since 1980. John earned a B.S. degree from Iowa State University, an M.S. degree in telecommunications from the University of Colorado, and served the Colorado Wireless Association as Regulatory Chairman (2016-2018).” front_title_color=”#ffffff” back_desc_color=”#ffffff” image=”758″ class=”.hb-flipbox-content”]

Starting from his first week as a site development agent for MCI (the first week of 1980), Rowe brought in one qualified site lease per week for ten weeks (at which time he was asked to start performing zoning permit procurement responsibilities). By fall of 1980 the twenty-three site microwave route through Upstate New York connecting East Orange, NJ to North Royalton, Ohio was ready for construction. The next year Rowe continued performing site development for MCI, while also beginning a two-three year period of recruiting, training, and managing new agents for site development proficiency.

During his four years in site development with MCI, Rowe was credited with building a site development department of thirty-two people in four offices across the country, for having played a role in helping the division to meet the corporate business objectives. In 1981, John received MCI’s Excellence in Service Award given to the top 2% of MCI employees each year. From 1984 (when John Rowe left MCI to return to Colorado) and 1993 (when he incorporated CREI), the beginning of a track record of successful results performing independent contractor assignments was established.

Before incorporating CREI in December 1993, John Rowe successfully performed site development tasks related to antenna site development as an independent contractor/ consultant for or on behalf of the following firms: Federal Express, IBM, Times Mirror Microwave, PacTel Mobile Systems, Hughes Communications Satellite Services, Teleport Denver, Shaffer & Associates, Shaffer Communications Group, Metro Mobile CTS, Bell Atlantic Mobile Services, US WEST, US WEST NewVector Group, US WEST Business Resources, Ram/ Bell South Mobile Data, & Pacific NW Cellular.

History
After incorporating in December 1993, CREI went on to acquire the first 35 sites for Nextel in Kansas City. These sites were secured much quicker than in other Nextel markets where large forces of site acquisition agents were on the job.
At the time of the conclusion of the PCS auction in 1995, CREI was engaged with Western Wireless in front-end project management activities, and in Salt Lake City (a city where Western won the PCS license). CREI worked with Western RF engineers to reduce the number of sites located in difficult zoning areas from half the first 65 sites planned to less than a dozen. By preparing search area packages for acquisition agents containing 1.) All neighborhood tax maps & ownership records, 2.) All relevant topo maps, 3.) All relevant zoning maps and zoning district treatment data, 4.) Meeting dates and contact information about the local neighborhood groups (and their boundaries), and 5.) Data and contact information about nearby existing communications towers and multi-story office buildings, five acquisition agents were able to acquire the first fifty PCS sites in five weeks (9/16/95 to 10/21/95). This effort enabled the Western franchise in Salt Lake City to be the 3rd PCS market to go on-line in the U.S. behind only Washington DC & Hawaii.

Next, Rowe took his management skills to Fluor Daniel and successfully performed on behalf of Aerial in the development of their PCS in Kansas City. There he recruited, trained, & managed a staff of 5 acquisition agents, 2 zoning specialists, and 3 paralegals to become the most reliable and successful of Aerial’s PCS markets. The list goes on:

AT&T Wireless CNIP project and SWAT team, Nextel/ Indiana, American Tower/ Cripple Creek Site, Unisite/ I-29, SpectraSite/ Minneapolis, ART/ Colorado Springs, AT&T Local Services/ Denver, Minneapolis & Omaha, Crown Castle/ Colorado Greenfield Sites, Bechtel/ AWS Project Building Permits, and for SkyTel during 1999 CREI acquired 60 paging sites in five months.

We at or on behalf of CREI stand ready and willing to take on your current challenge in the following areas of CREI expertise:

· Telecommunications: ESMR, PCS, Cellular, Mobile Data, Paging, Optical Fiber, Cable TV, Microwave, Broadcasting, & Satellite

· Real Estate Development: Site Acquisition, ROE, ROW, Implementation, Zoning, Project Mgt., Site Acquisition & Zoning Department/Project Management

· Construction Management: Guyed & Self Supported Lattice Towers, Monopoles, Stealth Sites, Rooftops, Antenna Attachments, Tenant Improvements

· Sales & Marketing: Site Leasing, Collocation, and Brokerage