Ohio said to offer $400M lure for Sears office

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio has pitched $400 million in incentives to lure Sears’ corporate headquarters away from Illinois, far more than that state was preparing to offer to keep the retailer in suburban Chicago, a spokeswoman for Illinois’ governor told an Ohio newspaper.

Ohio’s package is “basically about four times” what Illinois was considering putting on the table to keep Sears Holdings Corp. from leaving, said Brooke Anderson, press secretary to Gov. Pat Quinn. She told The Columbus Dispatch Sears executives mentioned the $400 million figure during a recent Illinois House committee hearing.

Sears has not confirmed anything about incentive offers and is not commenting on them, said Kimberly Freely, a spokeswoman for the company. Sears wants to have the question of its headquarters settled by the end of December, she said.