WESTERN PA. Westinghouse to build center in Cranberry Twp.

Westinghouse will add 1,000 jobs as it moves its headquarters to Cranberry.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Westinghouse Electric Co. will build a new 100 million research center and headquarters for its western Pennsylvania nuclear operations in a new office park north of the city, the company said Tuesday.
Westinghouse, a nuclear power plant designer and builder, had considered expanding its current headquarters in Monroeville, about 15 miles east of the city, but will instead move to a new office complex being built along Interstate 79 in Cranberry Township.
Within five years, Westinghouse expects to add at least 1,000 employees to the 3,450 it already employs in western Pennsylvania.
Westinghouse, which is owned by Japan's Toshiba Corp., needs to expand to meet the demand for four nuclear power plants in China and 12 reactors it has been contracted to build in the United States.
Construction at the new complex will begin within three months.
The Westinghouse nuclear power plant unit will move into the buildings in early 2009, with workers from Monroeville and nearby Churchill following by 2010, the company said in a release.
Westinghouse employees in Blairsville, Madison and New Stanton will not be moved.
Hiring for expansion
Westinghouse has already begun hiring workers for the expansion. They will work at existing facilities until the new headquarters opens, company spokesman Vaughn Gilbert said.
The workers will be engineers and others involved in the design of the new power plants as well as project management and procurement, he said. Computer programmers and accountants will also be hired.
Westinghouse announced late last year that it planned to keep its headquarters in western Pennsylvania, instead of sites the company considered in Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Westinghouse settled on the new location because it gives the company more construction and parking flexibility needed for future growth, officials said.
The company's plans are contingent on local governments' approving a 15-year tax-free development zone. The Seneca Valley School Board, Butler County commissioners and Cranberry Township supervisors have all expressed support for the Westinghouse tax abatement, but none of the taxing bodies have yet formally approved it.