Ohio dangles $400 million in incentives to hook Sears headquarters

The entrance to the Sears Holdings Corp. Prairie Stone campus area in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Illinois governor's office says Ohio has offered $400 million in incentives to lure away Sears' corporate headquarters.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn tells The Columbus Dispatch Ohio's pitch is about four times the offer Illinois has considered making to keep Sears Holdings Corp. from leaving.

A person familiar with the negotiations said in October that the parent of the Sears and Kmart retail chains was looking at Columbus, Ohio, and Austin, Texas, as possible new locations, if the company decides not to stay in suburban Chicago.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich would not talk specifics about the state's package. Instead, he joked on Wednesday that it's "somewhere between $0 and $400 million."

A Sears spokeswoman declined to comment on any incentive offers.