The Illinois legislature just passed a bill that ups the amount of tax credits businesses can receive, so long as they're creating jobs close to transit stops or affordable housing. These are called "location-efficient" incentives. Illinois is apparently the first in the country to pass such legislation.
It'll be interesting to see if this makes much difference in where companies decide to locate. My hunch is that it won't, though I hope I'm wrong. As it stands already, businesses and the site-location consultants they hire admit that tax breaks actually rank low on the overall list of things they look at (workforce issues are usually tops). I doubt that an extra 10 percent tax break will sway anybody to ditch a greenfield business park for loft space near the light rail line.
