Florida and Illinois are facing off to be the home of Office Depot’s headquarters, on the heels of its recent merger with Naperville, Ill.-based OfficeMax.
Office Depot’s 600,000-square-foot headquarters at 6600 North Military Trail in Boca Raton holds a staff of 1,750. Illinois is hoping to host the combined retailer, but first it is facing pension woes. Lawmakers there failed to approve a $53 million tax incentive last week that would attract the new headquarters.
John Boyd, a site selection specialist at the Boyd Company in New Jersey, told the Palm Beach Post that the incentive delay will likely put Illinois at a disadvantage. The corporate tax rate is 5.5 percent in Florida, a bit less than the 7 percent rate in Illinois.
“Chicago is one of the more difficult cities to transfer out of,” Boyd told the newspaper. “However, timing is very important in this business, and the timing is not good for Illinois.” [Palm Beach Post] — Mark Maurer