TRENTON -- The state Economic Development Authority Tuesday approved a 10-year, $31 million tax enticement to the Mars candy company in Hackettstown that would bring 483 jobs to Newark, including 113 new jobs for New Jersey.

Mega candy maker Mars Wrigley Confectionary US LLC executives are planning to expand in either New Jersey or Illinois, where the famed candy maker already operates regional facilities.

By a 11-0 vote and one recusal, the authority approved a $3.1 million annual tax credit package over 10 years. Mars Wrigley would make $42 million capital investment in a leased 110,000-foot office complex, a half-mile from Newark Penn Station, according to the company's application to the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program.

If Newark prevails over Chicago, Mars Wrigley would move 113 jobs from Chicago and 370 jobs from Hackettstown to Newark.

The tax credits are crucial to New Jersey's pitch, according to the application.

"The location analysis submitted to the Authority shows New Jersey to be the more expensive option and, as a result, the management of Mars Wrigley has indicated that the grant of tax credits is a material factor in the company's location decision."

The application does not say exactly where the building would be located.

Sources familiar with the grant applications reportedly told ROI-New Jersey the headquarters would be located in the Ironside Newark -- a 456,000-square-foot commercial and retail center currently being renovated.

Upon completion, the building will serve as the cornerstone of the Mulberry Commons project, a development that promises to link the Prudential Center arena and Newark Penn Station.

If the deal goes through, it would be a return to Newark for the candy giant, which was headquartered in the Brick City from about 1940 to 1959, when it opened the Hackettstown location.

"It is estimated that the project would have a combined net benefit to the state of $219.2 million over the 20 year period required" by the Grow New Jersey law, according to a summary of the project provided to the EDA board.

The EDA also approved a second $1 million grant for a capital project in Hackettstown, that would bring 92 new jobs from Chicago, and stop 369 jobs from migrating to Chicago. Mars has committed to making $54.2 million in capital investments in Hackettstown, according to the summary.

"If the state of New Jersey approves our recent incentives application we hope to create offices in both Hackettstown and Newark in 2020," a Mars Wrigley spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media on Monday.

Mars -- now Mars Wrigley since a recent merger -- makes M&M's, Twix, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Dove and Milky Way candy bars. Half of the nation's M&M's are made in the Hackettstown facility in Warren County.

Staff Writer Steve Strunsky contributed to this report. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.