Economically, 2007 was a good year for Butler County, which fared better than most in the Pittsburgh-region with new job growth and company expansions making headlines.

Of course, the Westinghouse Electric Co.'s selection of Cranberry Township as the location of its new international headquarters, bringing a total of at least 3,000 jobs in the next five years, topped the list of triumphs this year.

But other companies and organizations — Verizon, Mitsubishi, Concordia Lutheran Ministries, St. Barnabas and Butler Health Systems — had big announcements of their own.

The news that Westinghouse was coming to Cranberry Woods in Cranberry Township was touted as not only a win for the county and the township, but also a win for the region for keeping the company with a long history.The company's headquarters in Monroeville is being relocated to the Cranberry Woods Office Park, home to MSA and the Regional Learning Alliance, along Route 228.Gov. Ed Rendell attended the Aug. 14 ground-breaking ceremony for the 800,000-square-foot, $200 million facility. While some employees are already in Cranberry in smaller, leased facilities, the majority will come with completion of the three-building complex in 2009. Full construction is to be completed by 2010.Vaughn Gilbert, Westinghouse's spokesman, said the company is adding an additional floor to two of the three buildings. The original plans called for three buildings at a total of 775,000 square feet. The 140,000 square feet the company will add to the complex brings the total to 915,000 square feet of office and research space.The move and company expansion is attributed to a resurgence in nuclear energy, including contracts awarded to Westinghouse by China and the United States to build new reactors — a trend company officials believe will continue well into the future.

Besides Westinghouse's earth moving announcement, developers are eager to dig into the county's soil, under which greenbacks apparently grow.Butler Crossings, an expansion of the Butler Commons Shopping Center in Butler Township, worked hard to get the go-ahead to begin construction along New Castle Road. The project had been held up by the Butler Area Sewer Authority's capacity problems and solution approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection.A developer announced plans to build a hotel in Slippery Rock. Kevin Kumpfmiller is planning a $12 million Marriott Fairfield Inn with 75 rooms and four restaurants.While MEDRAD, maker of health care devices, worked on its manufacturing facility in the Victory Road Business Park in Clinton Township, it opened its new headquarters in Marshall Township, Allegheny County, just across the Cranberry Township line. The new facility is home to more than 250 workers.Other companies that announced employee additions in 2007 include Verizon, which is adding 300 workers in the next three years to its call center-customer service center in Thorn Hill Industrial Park, and Mitsubishi, also in Thorn Hill, which is adding 75 jobs immediately.

Butler County's medical and personal care facilities also are on the move.Butler Health Systems bought the Morgan II campus in Summit-Oakland townships at the intersection of Route 38, 68 and 422, for the expansion of its outpatient services and doctors' offices. The purchase goes along with the health system's plans to build a $150 million surgical tower, which will add space to the hospital's campus on East Brady Street in Butler, and renovate some of the hospital's older spaces.Concordia Lutheran Ministries, which has six campuses in Butler and Allegheny counties with Jefferson Township being its main campus, offers housing for retirees, assisted living, skilled nursing and hospice services. It bought the 500 acre Saxony Farms in Saxonburg for expansion. The $6.15 million "purchase will allow us to plan for the next 50 years or more," said Keith Frndak, Concordia's president and chief executive officer.St. Barnabas, which offers independent senior living to nursing home care, announced it would build a $4.2 million Crystal Conservatory on the organization's Valencia campus that will feature an indoor swimming pool for year-round use.The glass-enclosed building is to open in July.