By CRA News Service
BOCA RATON — Office Depot, which recently merged with OfficeMax could remain in Boca Raton, the Boca Raton Tribune has learned.
Sources close to the company said after plans to move its headquarters to move to OfficeMax’s former location in Naperville, Ill. failed to make to a full state Senate vote recently, the office supply retailer could move more than 2,000 jobs to Boca Raton. More than 1,700 people work at the standalone headquarters on Military Trail.
The decision will most likely be made by Roland Smith, the new CEO named in November.
The new company was seeking relief from Illinois state’s taxes, which are among the highest in the country. But a bill offering the office-supply chain $53 million in tax credits over 15 years failed to make it to a full Senate vote during a session that ended last week, and lawmakers aren’t likely to reconvene until next month at the earliest, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Office Depot already has more than $2 million worth of incentive packages to create jobs in Boca Raton.
Meanwhile, Office Depot on Monday added another former Wendy’s Co. executive, Stephen Hare, to its leadership team.
Hare replaces co-CFO Mike Newman, who has retired from Office Depot, and interim co-CFO Deb O’Connor, who has returned to her position as senior vice president of finance and co-chief accounting officer.
Hare served as senior VP and CFO at Wendy’s from 2011 until September 2013. Hare was senior VP and CFO of Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. from 2008 through 2011, and previously served as CFO of Arby’s Restaurant Group before it merged with Wendy’s.
Smith plans to have the Office Depot executive committee in place by the end of this month, according to sources.