Deal for Goodyear edges closer

The deal would retain 2,900 jobs in Akron.

AKRON — A California businessman said Tuesday he is nearing a deal to buy the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. headquarters, modernize it and lease it back to the tiremaker in a complex arrangement that would secure thousands of Ohio jobs.

“I think we’re pretty close,” said Stuart Lichter, president and senior managing partner of Industrial Realty Group LLC, a suburban Los Angeles-based redeveloper of industrial sites.

Goodyear’s board of directors was meeting Tuesday to go over the deal, Lichter told The Associated Press. Goodyear spokesman Scott Baughman said Tuesday he could confirm only a board meeting was occurring at Akron-based Goodyear, but that the agenda was confidential.

The meeting comes a day after two state agencies approved financial incentives designed to keep Goodyear’s headquarters in Akron.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority voted to award Goodyear up to a 27-percent tax credit for 15 years in return for retaining about 2,900 jobs at the company’s headquarters. The tax credit, valued at $30 million, also requires that Goodyear maintain operations at the site for 30 years.

The Development Financing Advisory Council also approved a $20 million, low-interest loan to finance parking facilities at the new complex.