The new office near Charlotte, N.C., that Westinghouse moved into last month isn't just spacious with room to grow. It's conveniently perched along the Charlotte beltway and is 10 minutes from the city's hub airport -- a critical international link for a corporation that does business all over the world.

As the saying goes, the top three considerations in real estate are location, location, location.

For Westinghouse and its pending decision on where to continue to grow its booming nuclear power business, location can't be discussed without talking about access.

"Of course, infrastructure -- roadways, public transportation, convenience of ingress and egress -- is always a big factor," said David Glickman, vice president of Grubb & Ellis, a local real estate firm. "A lot of clients will only locate where they know people will be able to get in and out conveniently and quickly."

When it comes to Route 228 in Cranberry -- the front door to Westinghouse's new corporate home -- even the township's strategic planning director admits that the words "quick" or "convenient" don't pop to mind.

"I would say during rush-hour periods, intersections along Route 228 are heavily congested," John Trant Jr. said. "We know that that's a negative impact for our future economic development. We know that 228 will definitely influence Westinghouse's decision on when and where to expand."

And that's why he and other officials throughout the region are working hard to get something done.

The background

Pennsylvania economic development leaders all but launched a parade when Westinghouse decided in 2007 to keep its international headquarters in Pennsylvania instead of moving them to a southern state from Monroeville, where the building was bursting at its concrete seams.

Though some Allegheny County feathers were ruffled when the century-old company decided to expand in Cranberry, Butler County, instead of at its old homestead, economic leaders licked their wounds and comforted themselves with, "At least it's Pennsylvania."

Even before the three-building headquarters is ready to open, the company needs to expand. No problem for Mine Safety Appliances, which owns the Cranberry Woods complex that is now home to Westinghouse. MSA has municipal approvals for four more buildings, including one parcel that Westinghouse has optioned.

Just a few months ago, it seemed nearly certain that Westinghouse would exercise that option and go for a fourth building, capable of holding 800 people, and maybe grab another parcel or two for more space in Cranberry Woods.

Things aren't so clear now.

Russ Bussard, director of facilities and operations for Westinghouse, acknowledged the company had some big decisions to make about its future growth. "We're trying to sort this out. My best guess and my hope is that we could decide within the next six months," he said.

The changes

Things have changed since Westinghouse decided to relocate to Cranberry.

At the time, Simon Properties, of Indianapolis, had put together an eye-popping package of transportation and economic development dollars that held the promise of a wider Route 228 complete with flyover ramps to and from adjacent Interstate 79. But, faced with a funding shortfall of more than $20 million and an impasse with state transportation officials over scaling back the work to the amount of cash on hand, Simon announced in January that it was pulling out. Gone was the $65 million in transportation improvements.

"When we made our decision [to stay in Pennsylvania and move to Cranberry], we clearly believed the 228 improvements were going to happen," Mr. Bussard said.

At the moment, the plan for Route 228 is a limited one. PennDOT has decided to spend the $20 million it had committed to the Simon project from this region's transportation improvement program on what district executive Joe Dubovi described as "incremental improvements" to the road. Those improvements include new on-ramps to I-79 from westbound Route 228. And that was better than what was feared when Simon said it was pulling out. Some officials worried that PennDOT would shift the money to another regional project.

"This is a good first step to get the project moving and get the shovels in the ground, but it's not enough," Mr. Trant said.

He said regional government and economic development officials need to work together to "get money from whatever pot we can find" to make the kind of wholesale improvements Westinghouse had expected and the corridor needs.

"We have had very open discussions with Westinghouse and other businesses and developers that want to locate and grow here, and we know that there's very real opportunity. This isn't making road improvements with the hope that jobs will come. We know they will come, if they aren't choked out by poor infrastructure," Mr. Trant said.

One potential pot of money is the $20 million in discretionary funds Gov. Ed Rendell had allocated to the Simon road project as well as the $4.5 million federal earmark for the project.

The question

Will Cranberry ultimately lose Westinghouse without an overhaul of Route 228?

No one knows for certain, but Mr. Trant believes that there's reason to worry.

"When the tax [abatement] ends in 15 years, will they want to stay in a congested, inaccessible location?" he asked.

Mr. Glickman said access was an important consideration but not the only one. "If some of the other variables are attractive and access isn't perfect, a site could still win out," he said. "Access is part of a bundle of considerations."

Mr. Bussard agreed.

"We're juggling more than one variable in the decision. The issue of 228 definitely comes up as one of the variables. I can't say at this point that if they're not going to expand 228, then that means we say, 'No, we won't be in Cranberry Woods for additional capacity.' But I can say that we have leased space in Charlotte and the building that we chose is within 10 minutes of the airport and it's close to the beltway. It is very convenient and there is space there so that we are able to expand down there if we want to," Mr. Bussard said.

Is Charlotte more convenient than Cranberry?

Mr. Bussard hesitated.

"I would say it's more convenient than Cranberry, relative to access to the airport. But I won't say its interstates are any better or any worse. If 228 were improved, maybe that would be the missing puzzle piece that would make it all work," he said.

Mr. Trant said thoughts of the Charlotte region make him quake.

"They're like a well-oiled machine. They have a coordinated system to help promote economic development, and there's lots of available space," he said.

Charlotte City Economic Development Director Tom Flynn easily ticks off the city's and the region's assets: a diversified economy, an educated work force, an airport that's within a two-hour flight of two-thirds of the U.S. population and provides direct connections to more than 200 cities, a central location, affordable homes.

"We have a very pro-business environment," he said in sum.

As for Westinghouse, he'd like to extend an invitation to his city that already is home to eight Fortune 500 companies.

"They'd fit right in," he said.