Camouflage key to company's success
By Arthur H. Rotstein
Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. — Next time you drive past an evergreen or a palm tree, or maybe a grain silo or a water tower, take a closer look. That might be a camouflaged cell phone tower you're seeing.
Associated Press
That penthouse facade atop a downtown city building? A saguaro cactus in Arizona? Them too.
Larson Co. CEO Andrew Messing shows off an artificial saguaro cactus that is being built to camouflage a cell phone tower in Tucson, Ariz. Larson Co., has built about 300 "tree" towers of varying heights nationwide, as well as other structures to conceal cellular transmission and receiving antennas.
The end result: No, that's not a cactus behind a restaurant in Tucson — it's one of Larson's cell phone towers.
It's just the Tucson-based Larson Co. working its fabricating wizardry.
Larson, which pioneered realistic artificial rock formations, waterfalls, animal habitats and seascapes a quarter-century ago for zoos, museums, parks and aquariums, produced its first camouflaged and trademarked Tree Pole in 1992 for a wireless carrier.
It has since built about 300 "tree" towers of varying heights nationwide, as well as other structures to conceal cellular transmission and receiving antennas.
"We do our job well when they don't know that it's there," said Andrew Messing, the company's president and chief executive.
Utility camouflage is still a relatively small division for Larson, accounting for about 15 percent of the privately held company's business. It currently employs about 200 people full time, with annual sales in the $20 million range.
"But in terms of growth rate, it's probably growing faster than any other area that we have," said Messing.
The reason for that can be found in the wireless phone industry, where competition has pushed carriers to dramatically increase their infrastructure, he said.
"As a result, more and more communities are seeing these towers sprouting up, and have been objecting to what they consider to be visual pollution," Messing said.
That's produced a greater need for concealment, and some cities are requiring that new cell towers be camouflaged.
