EXHIBIT 99.1

  General Growth Properties and The Rouse Company Announce Agreement

    CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 2004--General Growth
Properties, Inc. (NYSE:GGP), today announced the execution of a
definitive merger agreement with The Rouse Company (RSE). Under the
terms of the agreement, which has been approved by each company's
Board of Directors, shareholders of The Rouse Company will receive
$67.50 per share in cash. The total consideration will be
approximately $12.6 billion including the assumption of approximately
$5.4 billion of existing debt. The transaction is expected to close in
the fourth quarter of 2004, and is subject to the approval of Rouse
shareholders, as well as customary closing conditions.
    Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Rouse was founded in 1939 and
became a public company in 1956. A premier real estate development and
management company, Rouse, through its numerous affiliates, operates
more than 150 properties, encompassing retail, office, research and
development and industrial space in 22 states.
    Rouse owns or has ownership interests in 37 regional malls, 4
community centers and 6 mixed-use projects, totaling approximately 40
million square feet. Sales per square foot for the retail properties
averages approximately $439 per square foot and occupancy is
approximately 92%. The portfolio of retail centers contains such
world-class centers as Water Tower Place, Chicago, IL., Oakbrook
Center, Oakbrook (Chicago), IL., Fashion Show Mall, Las Vegas, NV.,
Park Meadows Mall, Denver, CO. and Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston,
MA.
    Additionally, Rouse is the developer of the master-planned
communities of Columbia, Maryland., Summerlin, along the western edge
of Las Vegas, Nevada and Bridgelands, a new project on the western
side of Houston, Texas. The company also owns an interest in The
Woodlands, a planned community in Houston, Texas. Rouse has over 9
million square feet of office, industrial and other commercial
properties, primarily in Baltimore/Washington DC and Las Vegas
markets.
    "In the past, I have explained why our principal focus is to
acquire, develop and manage regional shopping centers. We want to
continue to build and enhance our existing national platform. In
addition, I have always stressed that we strive to acquire centers
that will continue to improve and be strong three, five and ten years
from now. The Rouse Company offers all of this, and more," stated John
Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of General Growth. "I am very
pleased to announce that we have signed a definitive merger agreement
with The Rouse Company, one of the preeminent developers and managers
of shopping malls and planned communities in the United States. The
retail properties have historically performed among the highest levels
within the regional mall industry. We look forward to melding these
properties, and the employees associated with their success with our
existing 178 owned and managed centers. Combining the properties and
people of our two companies will create the most profitable and
productive shopping center company in the world," he added.
    Anthony Deering, chairman and chief executive officer of Rouse,
stated "This transaction recognizes the extraordinary values that have
been built by The Rouse Company since its founding in 1939. The
combination of our premier retail properties with those of General
Growth will create the most powerful portfolio of retail assets in the
United States."
    Rouse will continue to pay regular quarterly dividends in
accordance with past practice, including a dividend for any partial
period through the closing of the merger. Rouse may also pay a special
dividend at or prior to the closing of the transaction to comply with
REIT requirements. Under the agreement, the merger consideration would
be reduced by the amount of any special dividend and certain related
interest costs.
    General Growth was advised by Lehman Brothers, who rendered a
fairness opinion to the General Growth Board of Directors, as well as
by Credit Suisse First Boston and Wachovia Bank and its legal advisors
were Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Neal, Gerber and Eisenberg LLP.
Goldman Sachs and Deutche Bank advised Rouse and Fried, Frank, Harris,
Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Piper Rudnick LLP were its legal advisors.

    CONFERENCE CALL/WEBCAST

    General Growth will conduct a conference call to discuss the
transaction today, August 20, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight time.
If you would like to participate in the teleconference, please dial
800-946-0720, or the toll number at 719-457-2646, and enter the
passcode 857477. If you are unable to participate in the call, a
replay will be available until August 27, 2004 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern
Daylight time by dialing 888-203-1112, or the toll number at
719-457-0820, with the passcode 857477. General Growth will host a
live webcast of its conference call regarding this announcement on the
company's web site, www.generalgrowth.com. This webcast will take
place today, August 20, 2004 at 9:00 a.m., Eastern Time. The webcast
can be accessed by selecting the conference call icon on the GGP home
page. An online replay of the call will be available.
    General Growth Properties, Inc. is the country's second largest
shopping center owner, developer and manager of regional shopping
malls. General Growth currently has ownership interest in, or
management responsibility for, a portfolio of 178 regional shopping
malls in 41 states. The company portfolio totals approximately 154
million square feet of retail space and includes over 16,000 retailers
nationwide. The third largest U.S.-based publicly traded Real Estate
Investment Trust (REIT), General Growth Properties, Inc. is listed on
the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GGP. For more
information, please visit the company web site at
http://www.generalgrowth.com.

    This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties. Actual future performance, outcomes and
results may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking
statements as a result of a number of risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. Representative examples of these factors include (without
limitation) general industry and economic conditions, interest rate
trends, cost of capital and capital requirements, availability of real
estate properties, competition from other companies and venues for the
sale/distribution of goods and services, shifts in customer demands,
tenant bankruptcies, changes in operating expenses, including employee
wages, benefits and training, governmental and public policy changes
and the continued availability of financing in the amounts and the
terms necessary to support future business. Readers are referred to
the documents filed by General Growth Properties, Inc. with the SEC,
specifically the most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which
identify important risk factors which could cause actual results to
differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

    CONTACT: General Growth Properties, Inc.
             John Bucksbaum, 312/960-5005
             Bernard Freibaum, 312/960-5252