The Tribune posted this story on its web site this morning.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the State of Ohio has offered Sears $400 million in benefits to pull up the moving vans and take the tollways east.

That will put one lakefront home in my neighborhood (originally owed by a Schwinn bicycle family) on the for sale block and displace hundreds, if not thousands of area residents, if Sears decides to relocate.

District 300 will get its wish that the TIF-like Economic Development District expire after its original 23 years, but will probably not benefit to the extent that it hopes.

That’s because office buildings can be assessed based on income received. Empty office buildings don’t produce much rental income (or equivalent value).

The Tribune points out that the “bribe” (my word, not the Tribune’s) offered by Ohio is four time what Illinois was planning to offer.