WASHINGTON, D.C. — For cross country runners, it’s more than just a 75-acre field located on prime territory wear the I-270 Spur meets the Capital Beltway, just below well-traveled Democracy Blvd. and the long-popular Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md.
And, for radio industry nostalgia lore, it will forever be woven into the history of a Talk station associated with ABC for many years and today a part of Cumulus Media.
After a lengthy saga that has lasted nearly a decade, that valuable piece of property that had been home to the towers of WSBN-AM 630, serving the National Capital Region, has been sold to one of the nation’s biggest residential home builders.
In a formal announcement released late Wednesday (6/24), Cumulus confirmed that it has closed on the sale of its parcel of land in Bethesda to Toll Brothers.
It’s a $74.1 million deal that is expected to generate proceeds of $71.3 million, the Atlanta-based company which owns what had been WMAL-AM, “ESPN 630,” and Talk WMAL-FM 105.9, having sold the former WRQX-FM “Mix 107.3” to Educational Media Foundation just over one year ago.
The real estate deal is another way Cumulus Media CEO Mary Berner says the audio media company that also owns Westwood One is “continuing to execute on its commitment to reducing net leverage.”
“Given the difficult operating environment, our ability to continue to strengthen our balance sheet with the proceeds of this deal is particularly meaningful, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of Toll Brothers in working with us to bring this five-year effort to completion,” Berner says.
While the sale of the former WMAL tower site formally began in 2015, RBR+TVBR first noted in September 2011 the likelihood Cumulus would sell the Bethesda land, given its value. At that time, a $50 million price tag was suggested.
In March 2016, Berner provided a clearer picture of what the sale of the Bethesda land site would bring to the company: Modeling projections had a $75 million sale price, and closing was expected in 2017.
That was far from true. The land sale was met with fierce local “NIMBY” opposition, and Toll Brothers did not reveal its plan in a public hearing until a month following the Cumulus deal; a permit was not in hand when the land sale was consummated.
At the time, Cumulus applied to the FCC to move WSBN (the former WMAL-AM) from the towers at the Bethesda site some 10 miles north to the WWRC-AM 570 transmitter site in Germantown, Md. and planed to continue to use a four-tower array. That’s the case today, with a directional two-pattern signal providing 10kw during daylight hours and 2.7kw at night.
It was not until February 2020, during Cumulus’ Q4 and year-end earnings call, that the company could cheer over the stalled sale of the WMAL tower site. “A key approval hurdle” had been achieved, now-former Cumulus CFO John Abbot shared.
While Toll Brothers had faced local opposition to the land development, the appellants that sought to block the home developer elected not to file a third appeal, paving way for paving over the 75-acre tract in Bethesda, Md.
Of the total payment from Toll Brothers, $5 million of which had been received in 2019, some $2.8 million will go to transaction fees and expenses.
— Reporting by Carl Marcucci in Woodbridge, Va., and Adam Jacobson, in Boca Raton, Fla.
As of 12:16pm ET, Cumulus Media shares were trading at $4.50, up 4.9% from Wednesday. For continual updates across the business day and the closing price after 4:10pm ET, please view the Wall Street Report on the homepage of RBR.com.
