IKE Smart City, a sister company of Columbus Ohio based Orange Barrel Media was awarded a 12 year contract with the City of Houston to install 75 digital kiosks. The kiosks will be placed along sidewalks with high pedestrian traffic. The kiosks will display ads and provide information and direction to local attractions and amenities.
To put the contract in place took two votes by the city council. First, since the City of Houston has a prohibition on off-premise signs, a city ordinance change need to be voted on to allow the digital kiosks along city sidewalks. The second vote was for approval of the contract. The count on both votes was the same with 10 members voted in favor and 7 voting no to both the ordinance change and the contract.
There is a revenue share with the City allowing as much as 42% of the revenue going to the City, projected in the $35-$50 million range over the 12 year life over the contract.
IKE Smart Cities will submit a deployment plan to the City within 30 days and agreed to allow the City to have consultation on the location of the kiosks.
As to any potential issues related to the Houston off-premise sign code, Insider spoke with attorney, Richard Rothfelder, a resident of Houston, who shared that interestingly Houston defines and regulates off and on-premise signs based on their content, namely whether they identify goods, services, and businesses located on or off of the premises where the sign is installed; so, the Houston Sign Code is constitutionally suspect under Reed vs Gilbert accordingly.
IKE Smart City, is not new to the business and are an experienced operator with contracts in major cities including:
- Baltimore
- Cleveland
- Columbus
- Coral Gables
- Denver
- San Antonio
- St. Louis
- Tempe
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