An aerial photo of the Westinghouse Corp.'s Cranberry Woods campus which was sold for $180 million recently.

CRANBERRY TWP — The new owner of Westinghouse Corp.’s Cranberry Woods campus remains veiled in mystery — because of the way the property was sold.

Rather than a direct sale of the property to another corporation, the company first transferred the deed to one of its subsidiaries and then sold the subsidiary. If the company directly sold the property, that would have created a public record naming the buyer.

That subsidiary, CF Cranberry LLC, was created two days before Columbia announced its $180 million sale of the LLC. Previous media articles reported the buyer of the property was a “foreign” corporation. That’s because CF Cranberry LLC was created in the state of Delaware, which would be considered a foreign entity in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Even following records filed with the county recorder of deeds and Pennsylvania’s Department of State, no information has emerged on the identity of Westinghouse’s new landlord.

Jerry Andree, township manager, said that isn’t unusual for such a large sale.

“When you see such a high number, that record-breaking number, that’s not unusual, it’s not a real transparent transaction,” Andree said. “When there’s a lack of transparency, people start saying, ‘Hmm, what’s this all about?’ We become suspicious. That’s just human nature.”

Because of that, Andree said, the township will try to clear the air.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that will appear in Friday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.