The Year in Review

Believe it or not, the year wasn't all about hurricanes. Once again, phenomenal growth blessed our economy. The construction frenzy, new businesses, expanding companies and higher education are among the fruits of our fertile region.

Offsetting those highs, however, were a number of lows. Test scores for public school students slid and the Sanibel Causeway continued degenerating into a political mess, leaving taxpayers and commuters to foot the tab.

The hurricanes blew away every other story when they began arriving in August, and their effects will linger in the year to come. Here's a look at the storms and other top stories that played out this year in Southwest Florida.

Aviation

Major airlines hit turbulence, with United Airlines and US Airways in bankruptcy and Delta Air Lines seemingly headed that way, but air travel in Southwest Florida kept flying high.

Winner: Southwest Florida International Airport

SWFIA continued to break passenger and cargo records even after Hurri-cane Charley hit. August marked the 21st consecutive month of record-breaking passenger counts with more than 407,600 passengers-almost 19 percent more than August 2003-and air cargo increased by about five percent for the month. And it was the busiest September in the airport's history, with 319,000 passengers-a 12.6 percent increase over the same month last year. It was also the busiest September on record for air cargo, with more than 2.7 million pounds of freight passing through the airport.

In addition, the trade publication Airports ranked SWFIA as the 10th busiest of 30 airports in the South-east for 2002-03.

Although the storms caused some chaos in the construction schedule, the much-anticipated Midfield Terminal is still expected to open in 2005.

Loser: Hooters Air

The airline failed to capture enough business to keep its Fort Myers flight, which connected to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Less than a year after the airline's maiden flight here, it pulled out.

Winner: Naples Municipal Airport

In a major boon to businesses and commuters, the airport landed a direct flight to Atlanta (though not necessarily at discount rates) with Delta's Atlantic Southeast Airlines.

Health Care

Winner: Health Management Associates

Loser: NCH

After a lengthy fight with NCH, which owns Naples Community and North Collier hospitals, Naples-based HMA won the right to build a new hospital in East Naples when a court of appeal rejected NCH's challenge to the state's decision to grant HMA a license.

But HMA is one of three health-care companies in the country charged in a proposed class-action suit that claims they price-gouge people who don't have insurance.

Loser: Lee Memorial Health System

A task force cleared the Lee system of similar price-gouging accusations, but it faces other problems. Lee Memorial followed in the footsteps of NCH and filed suit against Oklahoma-based Medical Savings Insurance Co. for refusing to pay medical bills. And in spite of receiving $4.5 million through the state legislature, rising costs and patient loads and decreasing revenue continue to leave Lee Memorial's trauma center barely clinging to life.

Losers: Businesses and their employees

Businesses and employees remain the big losers in health insurance. "If you're a small business and you offer any type of health insurance to your employees, you've got to budget for at least 20 percent increases each year," says Tammie Nemecek, executive director of the Eco-nomic Development Council of Collier County. "The continued rise in health insurance rates is going to not just affect the bottom line in businesses, but affect the ability for families to have proper health insurance."

Development

Winners: Collier economic developers

The Florida Tradeport (formerly the Immokalee Regional Airport) lost one potential new business-Miami-based Safire Aircraft Co., which ran into money problems-but it gained three: Skytruck Co., Florida Architectural Products and DLC Marine, which is at Tradeport Technology Park (formerly Agricom Park). Tradeport Technology Park is next to Florida Tradeport.

Through its Polish connections, Naples-based Sky-truck, which proposes to open a finishing plant at the Tradeport for its cargo aircraft, also helped the Collier EDC folks develop a relationship with Polish officials and businesses interested in the airport and its proximity to Western markets. With Poland's entry this year into the European Union, Nemecek adds, "it's an opportunity for us to use Poland as a jumping-off point for Europe."
March Performance, an automotive-parts manufacturer, moved from Michigan and became the first property owner in the North Naples Research and Technology Park, which is expected to create 40 jobs at an average salary of more than $54,000, according to Nemecek.

Winners: Lee economic developers

Robb and Stucky, one of Lee's biggest employers, is building a new facility that will include a large distribution center and more administrative space. It also is expanding its retail locations, with a new 60,000-square-foot store in North Bay Village in Bonita Springs that will feature a furniture store and a gift boutique. Another new store nearby will carry Robb & Stucky's patio furniture.

Chico's FAS, a national chain founded on Sanibel and based in Fort Myers, completed integrating the White House/Black Market stores and catalogs. It also launched its new Soma intimates stores, the first of which opened in August in Bell Tower Shops, driving record sales.

T3 Communications in downtown Fort Myers also expanded in 2004 and brought to the region a technological boost-a network access point. "That really helps put us in line with a lot of larger cities," says Regina Smith, director of Lee County's Economic Development Office.

Shamrock Boats, which had consolidated in North Carolina and shut down its longstanding Cape Coral division, divided again and returned boat-building operations to the Cape.

Winner: Fort Myers

Spurred by the adoption of Andrés Duany's plan for redevelopment, downtown Fort Myers experienced a surge of economic vitality, with about a dozen new waterfront projects proposed or permitted. Most are residential towers, and the influx of new homes is sparking more commercial interest.

"With that many residents, now you need a whole other level of services. You don't need just specialty retail, you need entertainment retail, groceries, drugstores, dry cleaners," says VIP Commercial real estate adviser Gary Tasman.

Loser: Slow-growth vote in Naples

Voters took a stance in February against slow-growth city council candidates and rejected a charter amendment that would have limited growth in the "Heart of Naples," which includes the long-disputed 41-10 district.

Winner: Cape Coral

The region's largest (inland), but late-blooming, city continued its growth spurt in 2004.

Under discussion or underway: upgrading the deteriorating Club Square area, a parking garage and new office buildings, retail space and mixed-use projects. Commercial growth is accelerating in the Pine Island Road corridor, with 15 to 20 projects in the planning stages, accounting for some 3 million square feet. Among them: a mixed-use project by Cape Harbour developer Will Stout, and a commerce park.

Houlihan's restaurant opened, and several more national chains were announced, including BJ's Wholesale Club, Carrabba's Italian Grill and-even more noteworthy-Wyndham Resorts and Hotels, which will develop a new hotel at Tarpon Point Marina.

Winner: Big banks

A rash of mergers changed the landscape for banking customers in Southwest Florida. First National Bank-shares of Florida Inc. acquired Southern Commu-nity Bancorp. Come January, FNB will be bought by Fifth Third Bancorp. Colonial Bank took over Premier Community Bank, Wachovia is taking over SouthTrust, and Colonial BancGroup is in the process of acquiring Union Bank of Florida.

Winners: Realtors and homeowners

The hurricanes might have caused a temporary setback in home sales, but even Charley couldn't affect appreciation. In Lee County, the median price for a home in August-the month Charley hit-rose 13 percent over August 2003 to $202,600. In Naples, it jumped to $397,300-34 percent higher than the previous year.

Winner: Future engineers

Florida Gulf Coast University gained funding and broke ground on its much-anticipated school of engineering, thanks to contributions from The Whitaker Foundation and Ginn Co.

Edison College (whose name was officially changed from Edison Community College by the State Legislature) launched an associate in science degree program in biotechnology, which is intended to feed the much-anticipated Scripps Research Center in Palm Beach.

Loser: Edison College's four-year programs

Edison and FGCU jointly requested this year that the state Board of Education give Edison the authority to offer bachelor-degree programs in computer technology and public services management.

The board had not decided on the current request by press time, but a similar request was turned down a few years ago. The schools currently provide the two programs with shared resources, and FGCU confers the degrees. Both schools support turning the four-year programs, seen as workforce studies, over to Edison.

Winners: Commuter students

FGCU and Edison collaborated to serve Charlotte County students by offering FGCU classes at the Edison campus in Punta Gorda. A task force was formed to look into expanding Edison into Glades and Hendry counties.

Winners: College capital projects

Edison revamped its Collier campus to create a conference facility that will open in January.

And International College broke ground on a new Fort Myers campus at Winkler Avenue and Colonial Boule-vard, where it will relocate from Renaissance Center on College Road.

Ave Maria University in Naples opened this fall with nearly 310 students-triple last year's enrollment. About 10 percent of the students transferred from Ave Maria College in Michigan, another Catholic college started by Domino's Pizza mogul Tom Monaghan, who plans to fold the Michigan college campus into AMU in a few years.