* The widely expected decision to consolidate the newly merged Office Depot and OfficeMax headquarters in Florida means the loss of up to 1,600 well-paying jobs for Illinois. The company had sought a state tax break, but none were approved last week…

Office Depot spokeswoman Karen Denning said Illinois’ lack of an incentives package was partly behind the company’s decision. Other factors included taxes and the ability of the existing 625,000 square-foot facility in Florida to accommodate all of the new company’s employees. That facility is almost twice as big as the OfficeMax facility in Naperville.

Office Depot doesn’t yet have a timeline for moving its operations in Naperville and other headquarters staff in the Chicago suburb of Itasca to Boca Raton, Denning said.

The company has an existing incentives package from the state of Florida but officials there have not commented on any potential new tax breaks or other perks.

Dave Roeder, a spokesman for Illinois’ Department of Economic Opportunity, said the agency offered to work with the company on incentives that didn’t require lawmakers’ approval, but “the company did not pursue those options with us.”

* ADM is expected to announce soon whether it will locate its new “world headquarters” in Chicago without a state tax break…

ADM reiterated its statement from last week, saying it is reviewing its options in the wake of inaction in the House.

“We expect to make an announcement soon,” a company statement noted. […]

However, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said the speaker would like to implement a more intensive process to help guide the state through the economic development process.

“We’re hopeful of putting together some kind of evaluation plan,” Brown said.

* And now Boeing is putting a new factory out for bids…

Boeing had conditions from the beginning on the 777X [production factory]: big incentives from the State of Washington and big givebacks by its largest union here, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The state came through, delivering in a special session of the Legislature a package worth $8.7 billion through 2040. But union members balked, voting down a contract extension last month that would have frozen their pensions. So Boeing began sending out requests for proposals to more than a dozen states and cities around the nation.

State legislators in Missouri last week delivered a $1.7 billion Christmas gift should Boeing come their way. Economic development officials in Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina and Utah — Boeing has declined to provide a full list of suitors — were putting together bids, too, and bragging about their respective environments of can-do optimism. […]

But [Washington{ state officials said they believed the region had aces in the hole that would ultimately prevail: experience in producing airplanes under deadline conditions and closer proximity than most of the competition to Asian suppliers and customers, an important consideration for ocean-borne freight shipment.

* St. Louis already has some big aircraft facilities, so Illinois could tap into that local expertise and was also invited to submit a bid…

Illinois is assembling its own package, according to Illinois Department of Commerce spokesman Dave Roeder. “Illinois is responding to Boeing’s call for proposals regarding its 777X manufacturing center, which has the potential to create thousands of jobs,” he said. He added that the proposal will be submitted electronically today and a hard copy will be delivered to Boeing tomorrow.

“We believe our proposal is compelling for a company that already has its headquarters in Illinois. However, a confidentiality agreement prevents us from discussing details at this time,” Mr. Roeder said.

Boeing does have a plant in the Metro East area. But I’m really skeptical that Illinois could win this war.

A main reason Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago was so that it could be the big cheese in its new home state rather than fight against its unions for political influence.