Officials in Charlotte, N.C., can be excused for any envy they might harbor over having been passed over by Westinghouse Electric for the company's new headquarters.

The three-building headquarters complex, for which a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Saturday morning in Cranberry Township, is projected to provide a much-larger positive economic benefit than when the company's move from Monroeville was being contemplated earlier this decade.

While there still are residents and some officials of this area who don't look kindly on the fact that Westinghouse was lured here by 15-year tax abatements approved by the Butler County commissioners, Cranberry supervisors and Seneca Valley School Board, that tax-revenue loss will be offset by the big economic benefits of having Westinghouse here.

Among the most notable is employment. Westinghouse originally had 1,800 employees at its Monroeville location and planned to add 1,400 more in Cranberry. But Westinghouse chief executive officer Aris Candris has announced bigger and better plans.

"As it turns out, we will end up with more than 5,000 employees here, and more than 6,000 in Western Pennsylvania, by 2013," Candris said.

Equally notable is the fact that Westinghouse already has invested $200 million in the area and has pledged to invest another $45 million.

Likewise, Westinghouse has prided itself on being a good corporate neighbor, making annual total United Way contributions of approximately $800,000 companywide and encouraging that its employees engage in volunteerism.

Getting Westinghouse to commit to a move to Cranberry also is a success story for the state General Assembly and Gov. Ed Rendell. It was at Rendell's urging that the General Assembly in 2006 approved legislation allowing the 15-year tax abatement.

The legislation required the three taxing entities — the township, county and school district — to approve creation of the special tax-free zone known as a Strategic Development Area, which, of course, the taxing bodies did, despite some concerns over the lost tax revenue.

But a deeper look at the Westinghouse issue reveals that the corporate giant recognized other important Cranberry assets and advantages. They include good highways providing easy access to its facilities, sewage improvements, other business growth in and around the township adding to the economic vitality of the location, and otherwise solid land management providing the kind of atmosphere attractive to a company of Westinghouse's stature.

Cranberry's success, not only regarding Westinghouse but on many other fronts, is a product of vision, wisdom, planning and physical energy. In the past, Cranberry has been criticized for reacting too late to its growth potential, which allowed haphazard development decades ago. However, those kind of mistakes are a thing of the past as township officials have a full understanding of how the township got to where it is now, and what it needs to do to move ahead.

Saturday's ribbon-cutting was not only a celebration of success, but also expressed positive anticipation about the future.

Westinghouse's future successes will now be Butler County successes as well.

It's safe to say that George Westinghouse, who founded the company 124 years ago, would be proud of today's company executives' laudable choice of making Cranberry its launch pad for its future endeavors.