JCDecaux signs with the City of Chicago

JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the world leader in street furniture and the largest outdoor advertising group in Europe, announces that, following selection in November, it has signed with the City of Chicago one of the largest street furniture contracts in the world. The signing confirms the value of the 20 year contract at some €850 million in advertising revenues. With a capital expenditure budget of some €50 million, the contract will provide Chicago with over 2,000 advertising bus shelters and other street furniture such as newspaper vending stands and racks, bus supervisor kiosks, vending café kiosks and city information panels. Installation will commence promptly, beginning in the fourth quarter this year and completing in 2004.

Chicago, with a population of approximately 3 million people, is the third largest city in the US and this latest contract complements the major street furniture business that JCDecaux already holds in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Chicago has chosen a single street furniture design style from a multiple design offer. It will be provided by the renown New York based Robert A.M. Stern Architects firm, which was exculsively commissioned by JCDecaux. Robert Stern is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a recipient of its New York Medal of Honor. His designs include the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the Disney Feature Animation Building in Burbank and the William Gates Computer Science Building in Palo Alto.

Jean-François Decaux, Co-CEO, said:

• “Our Chicago contract will enable us to provide advertisers with the best advertising locations in the downtown areas of three of the top four US cities, namely Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
• We expect high advertising demand in a city like Chicago, where historically there has been no street furniture advertising and which until now has had a very limited offer in terms of advertising space in prime areas.
• This contract establishes JCDecaux as a strong leader in US street furniture. We hope now to have the opportunity of bidding for the bus shelter and associated street furniture contract in New York, the largest in the US, when the contract with the current incumbent expires at the end of this year. With the installation commencing in the fourth quarter, the Chicago contract will provide a showcase for our latest designs in street furniture.”

David E. Malone, chief procurement officer for the City of Chicago Department of Procurement Services, said:

“The Street Furniture Program will provide residents and visitors of Chicago with amenities which will increase the comfort and livability of our neighborhoods and encourage a vital and active street life – all at no cost to tax payers.”