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Dayton
Business Journal...
Sears
to stay in Illinois after tax
deal
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Also, Gov. Kasich comments on the report, below.
Sears
Holding Corp. is set to keep its
headquarters in suburban Chicago if Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signs a
tax-break
package that the state’s general assembly passed Tuesday, the Chicago
Tribune
reports.
The
Illinois legislature approved $15
million in tax credits for the next 10 years, along with extending a
special
taxing district that will save Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) about $125 million
during
the next 15 years, the Tribune reports. It now goes to the desk of
Quinn, who
praised the bill’s passage Tuesday.
A
memo from Sears’ chief executive to
employees said the company would stay in Illinois if the governor signs
off on
the tax breaks.
The
tax incentive package in Illinois
is Sears’ second, the Tribune reports. The state gave Sears $250
million in
incentives to stay in Illinois about 20 years ago.
Ohio
might have forced Illinois’ hand
in its pursuit of the Sears and Kmart parent, which could have brought
6,000
home office workers along with its headquarters to the Buckeye state.
Quinn has
told reporters that Ohio offered Sears a $400 million incentive
package, but
state officials have not confirmed that number.
If
it had moved to Ohio, Sears’ $43
billion in revenue last year would have made it Central Ohio’s
second-largest
public company behind only Cardinal Health Inc.
(NYSE:CAH).
Ohio
Gov. John Kasich has made it a
priority to not only retain companies in the state, but to get
aggressive about
recruiting companies here. Some high-profile losses for Ohio include
NCR
Corp. ‘s
2009 decision to move its
headquarters to suburban Atlanta from Dayton, where it was home for
more than a
century. Recently, Chiquita Brands International Inc.
announced it will move to Charlotte,
leaving its hometown of Cincinnati.
“We
want to go on the offense,” Mark
Kvamme, interim chief investment officer and president of JobsOhio,
previously
told the Dayton Business Journal’s editorial board. JobsOhio is the
state’s new
private nonprofit economic development organization.
Kasich
has touted recent wins such as
keeping Bob Evans Farms Inc.
and
American Greetings Corp.
from leaving
the state, as well as bringing Wendy’s headquarters from Georgia back
to the
Columbus area.
Read
this and other articles at Dayton
Business Journal
Kasich comments on the Sears report
COLUMBUS – Below is a statement attributed to Gov. John R. Kasich in response to reports that Sears will stay in Illinois.
“A year ago, who would have imagined that Ohio would be going
toe-to-toe with Texas, the nation’s most successful job-creating state,
to compete for jobs. We’re disappointed that it didn’t work out,
but it is very exciting that Ohio was in serious contention up to the
very end, and that it took a special session of the Illinois
legislature to beat us.
“To have one of America’s major retailers consider relocating to Ohio
is a testament to how far we’ve come in a short amount of time – we are
beginning to get back on track. It’s also a reminder that we
cannot let up in our efforts to build a jobs-friendly climate so
Ohioans can get back to work.”
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